The Top Facts Highlighting Women’s Retirement in 2024

A new Transamerica study spotlights the leading 24 statistics regarding women’s retirement outlooks

While reports show gaps in retirement planning and savings among consumers today, women are particularly struggling to save for retirement.

Among a host of responsibilities and systemic issues, including caregiving needs and gender pay gaps, women are facing an increasing retirement crisis. A past study from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies (TCRS) found that just 19% of women workers say they are “very” confident they will be able to fully retire with a comfortable lifestyle.

“Women have made great strides in educational attainment and access to career opportunities in recent decades. Yet, despite this progress, women are still at greater risk than men of not achieving a financially secure retirement,” said Catherine Collinson, CEO and president of Transamerica Institute and TCRS. “Factors including the gender pay gap and time out of the workforce for parenting and caregiving can hinder a woman’s lifetime earnings, retirement savings, and government and employer benefits. What’s more, women tend to live longer than men, so they have an even greater need to save for older age.”

As part of the firm’s latest 24^th Annual Retirement Study, Transamerica released 24 facts and findings on the personal finances and preparedness for women workers ages 18 and over.

“Our research explores the attitudes and challenges faced by women, reveals pain points, identifies actionable opportunities, and serves as a societal call to action for improving their retirement security.”

Catherine Collinson, Transamerica

“Our research explores the attitudes and challenges faced by women, reveals pain points, identifies actionable opportunities, and serves as a societal call to action for improving their retirement security,” said Collinson.

Transamerica notes how the incoming presidential administration could curtail these challenges by addressing a number of gaps. For example, 60% of respondents in the study listed addressing Social Security’s funding shortfalls as a top priority for the President and Congress.

Other priorities include making out-of-pocket health care expenses and prescription drugs more affordable (50%), addressing Medicare’s funding shortfalls (48%), ensuring all workers can save for retirement in the workplace (46%), increasing access to affordable housing (41%), implementing financial literacy curriculum in schools (39%), supporting family caregivers (38%), innovating more affordable solutions for long-term care (38%), providing and/or subsidizing additional broadband access (28%), and creating incentives for continuing education (28%).

“Everyone must do their part and play a role in improving women’s retirement security,” said Collinson. “Policymakers can pave the way by addressing structural barriers and implementing reforms, employers can enhance their business practices and benefit offerings to be more inclusive of women’s needs, women can take charge by further engaging in financial planning, and men can lean in and do more as advocates and allies.”

Read on in the next pages for the top facts on women’s retirement outlooks.

SEE NEXT: The 16-24 Facts About Women’s Retirement Outlook

• 24. Women could be doing more to protect their long-term health. Given the magnitude of what is at stake, relatively few women socialize with family and friends (54%), eat healthy (54%), exercise regularly (53%), and get enough sleep (52%). Even fewer women engage in other activities that are necessary for safeguarding one’s health (e.g., seeking medical attention when needed, getting routine physicals and recommended health screenings).

• 23. Many women could be more proactive about ensuring they can work as long as they want and need. Just 57% say they are staying healthy, while only 53% are focused on performing well at their current job. Fewer than half (48%) are keeping their job skills up to date.

• 22. Half of women (50%) expect to retire after age 65 or do not plan to retire – and 53% plan to work in retirement. Among women who plan to work past age 65 and/or in retirement, more cite financial reasons (82%) than healthy-aging reasons (75%).

• 21. Just four in 10 women (40%) are aware of the Saver’s Credit, a tax credit for eligible taxpayers who save for retirement in a qualified workplace retirement plan or IRA.

• 20. Just four in 10 women (40%) are aware of the Saver’s Credit, a tax credit for eligible taxpayers who save for retirement in a qualified workplace retirement plan or IRA.

• 19. Only 29% of women currently use a professional financial advisor.

• 18. One in five women (20%) have a financial strategy for retirement in the form of a written plan.

• 17. Few women (17%) frequently discuss saving, investing, and planning for retirement with family and close friends.

• 16. Women estimate they will need to save $500,000 (median) to feel financially secure in retirement, but alarmingly more than half (55%) say that they “guessed” their savings needs.

SEE NEXT: The 8-15 Facts About Women’s Retirement Outlook

• 15. Two in three women (66%) would like more information and advice from their employer on how to reach their retirement goals.

• 14. Just 16% of women say they have “a lot” of working knowledge about personal finance.

• 13. Women have $44,000 in total household retirement savings (estimated median). Baby Boomer women have saved $98,000, compared with Generation X ($61,000), Millennials ($37,000), and Generation Z ($21,000) (estimated medians). It is questionable whether many women are saving adequately for a retirement that could last 20 to 30 or more years.

• 12. One-third of women (33%) have taken a loan, early withdrawal, and/or hardship withdrawal from their 401(k) or similar plan or IRA.

• 11. Among women offered a 401(k) or similar plan, 79% participate, contributing 10% (median) of their salary.

• 10. Women who work full time (81%) are more likely to be offered a 401(k) or similar employee-funded retirement plan than women who work part time (46%).

• 9. Most women (78%) are saving for retirement at work and/or outside the workplace.

• 8. More than three in four women (77%) are concerned that Social Security will not be there for them when they are ready to retire.

SEE NEXT: The Top Facts About Women’s Retirement Outlook

• 7. One in four women (26%) expect Social Security to be their primary source of retirement income.

• 6. Only 16% of women are “very confident” that they will be able to fully retire with a comfortable lifestyle.

• 5. Women have only $3,000 in total household emergency savings (median) to cover the cost of unexpected major financial setbacks (e.g., unemployment, medical bills, home repairs, auto repairs).

• 4. Women’s most often cited financial priorities are saving for retirement (52%), building emergency savings (46%), paying off credit card debt (42%), saving for a major purchase or life event (36%), and just getting by to cover basic living expenses (36%).

• 3. Almost four in 10 women (39%) are currently and/or have previously served as caregivers during their working careers. Among them, more than eight in 10 women (84%) made work adjustments due to caregiving.

• 2. The “greatest retirement fears” among women include outliving their savings and investments (44%), Social Security being reduced or ceasing to exist in the future (43%), declining health that requires long-term care (41%), not being able to meet the basic financial needs of their family (39%), and cognitive decline, dementia, and/or Alzheimer’s disease (37%).

• 1. Women workers dream of an active retirement including travel (70%), spending more time with family and friends (60%), pursuing hobbies (49%), working (25%), volunteering (24%), and taking care of grandchildren (21%).

SEE ALSO:

Women’s Retirement Planning Hit by Confidence, Savings Hurdles

Women’s Retirement Savings Challenges Highlighted in TCRS Survey Report