Transamerica: Societal Headwinds Are Undermining Women’s Retirement Security

Transamerica: Societal Headwinds Are Undermining Women’s Retirement Security

A new report from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies® (TCRS) finds that more than four in 10 working women (41 percent) expect to retire at age 70 or older or do not plan to retire.

Titled Emerging from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Women’s Health, Money, and Retirement Preparations, the report examines the retirement outlook of women workers and includes recommendations for women, employers, and policymakers to improve retirement security.

Highlights:

  • More than four in 10 women workers are having trouble making ends meet (44 percent), while 57 percent feel they do not have enough income to save for retirement;
  • Women have only $2,000 (median) in emergency savings. Emergency savings increase with age: Generation Z women have saved $500, Millennials have saved $1,400, Generation X has saved $3,000, and Baby Boomers have saved $7,000 (medians);
  • Eighty-one percent who plan to work past age 65 or do not plan to retire cite financial reasons for doing so, while almost as many (77 percent) cite healthy aging-related reasons; and
  • Women workers have saved only $43,000 (estimated median) in all household retirement accounts. Retirement savings increase with age: Generation Z women have saved $26,000, Millennials have saved $29,000, Generation X has saved $51,000, and Baby Boomers have saved $101,000 (estimated medians).

Published by

Darryl Hicks

Darryl Hicks is Vice President of Communications for the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association. In this capacity, Hicks writes for NRMLA's publications, manages the association's web sites and social media accounts, assists committees and the Board of Directors, and manages the Certified Reverse Mortgage Professional designation. Prior to joining NRMLA in 1999, Hicks spent three years in the Washington, D.C. bureau for National Mortgage News.