Women and Retirement Planning

Women face special challenges when planning for retirement. Because their careers are often interrupted to care for children or elderly parents, women may spend less time in the workforce and earn less money than men in the same age group. As a result, their retirement plan balances, Social Security benefits, and pension benefits are often lower. In addition to earning less, women generally live longer than men, and they face having to stretch limited retirement savings and benefits over many years.

To meet these financial challenges, you'll need to make retirement planning a priority.

Begin saving now

To maximize your chances of achieving a financially secure retirement, start with a realistic assessment of how much you'll need to save. If the figure is substantial, don't be discouraged--the most important thing is to begin saving now. Although it's never too late to save for retirement, the sooner you start, the more time your investments have to grow.

The chart below shows how just $2,000 invested annually at a 6% rate of return might grow over time:

Age you begin saving for retirement:

Amount you'll have saved by age 65:

20

$451,016

30

$236,242

40

$116,313

50

$49,345

60

$11,951

This is a hypothetical example, and does not reflect the performance of any specific investment. Results assume reinvestment of all earnings and no tax.