A national survey of women ages 25 and older, commissioned by the National Council on Aging (NCOA) and Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER), finds that for the second year in a row American women report substantial stress.
Compared to 2023, fewer women consider themselves financially secure and they worry about how they will afford health care costs and other expenses in retirement, with the cost of housing and cuts to Medicare and Social Security being top concerns.
In What Women Say: Insights and Policy Solutions for Lifelong Security, more than 7 in 10 low-income women say they are not confident about their ability to plan and save for retirement. In addition, roughly a third of all women and half (49%) of low-income women say their retirement income or savings will not be enough to pay their monthly bills—an increase from 2023.
Large majorities also report that they are not financially secure. “Nearly 6 in 10 (59%) women and 81% of low-income women told us they do not make enough money right now to save for retirement,” noted Bill McInturff, Partner at Public Opinion Strategies. “Food insecurity also is a reality for about half of low-income Hispanic and White women. These facts directly impact a woman's ability to plan and save for retirement,” he added.
“The survey points to ways we can change women's retirement prospects," WISER President Cindy Hounsell observed. “We can remove the barriers and improve the safety net that so many low- and moderate-income women depend on. We can increase access to retirement plans and provide outreach and information to help women improve their financial decision-making. Clearly, we must begin to make the future more secure for women of all ages and incomes.”
Policy Solutions
The survey asked women to express their level of support for 12 potential policy solutions, understanding that these solutions would likely have a cost associated with them and may require new federal government spending or reductions in spending on other federal programs to pay for them.
Of the 12 policies examined, the most important for women ages 25 and older are providing government assistance for low-income adults (35% combined choices), improving Medicare/Medicaid to cover home care (33% combined choices), and expanding Medicare coverage (30% combined choices).
Reducing or eliminating the requirements that limit the amount of savings or assets that older adults are allowed to have in order to qualify for government low-income benefits also received strong support.
“For six of the policy proposals we tested in 2023 and 2024, the intensity of support increased,” noted Celinda Lake, President of Lake Research Partners. “Clearly, women know what they need, and they are likely to vote with these issues in mind.”
The national survey was conducted online from March 2-13, 2024, by Public Opinion Strategies and Lake Research Partners, among 1,022 women ages 25 and older with oversamples of rural women (n=314) and low-income women by ethnicity (White=260, Black=241, Hispanic=203).
In addition to asking women about their financial situation and how they feel about their future, this year's survey also included questions about women's health.
“Low-income” was defined as an individual with $25,000 in income per year ($50,000 for two or more people in a household), self-identified as lower income, working class or middle class, and either did not have any retirement savings or had retirement savings of $5,000 or less.
