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Unmarried Women Face Difficult Road to Retirement

Industry Trends and Research

A new study found that unmarried women workers and retirees have lower retirement confidence than their married counterparts and are more likely to have lower incomes and assets. 

Unmarried retirees were also more likely to say that their expenses were higher than they expected and were more likely to have retired earlier than planned, according to The Perfect Storm—Factors Contributing to Lower Retirement Confidence Among Women Who Are Not Married by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). 

The brief, which examines in more detail the findings from the 2022 Retirement Confidence Survey, reviews the attitudes, considerations and behaviors surrounding retirement of women workers and retirees of different marital statuses to provide insight into what can help improve women’s retirement outcomes.

Among the key findings were that just 27% of married women workers have assets of less than $25,000 compared with more than half for divorced women workers (58%) and single, never-married women workers (56%). Married women retirees are also less likely to have lower levels of assets than divorced and widowed retirees.

Married women workers are more likely to say that they are confident they will have enough money to live comfortably throughout their retirement years than both divorced and single, never-married women workers. Among retirees, married women are also more likely to be confident that they will have enough money in retirement than divorced or widowed women, EBRI found.

Different Priorities

Strikingly, both divorced and single, never-married women workers are more likely to agree that retirement savings is not a priority relative to the current needs of their family than married women workers. When asked about priorities aside from managing day-to-day finances, single, never-married women workers are more likely to choose purchasing a home or starting a business as a top-three longer-term financial planning priority.

In contrast, married and divorced women workers are most likely to say that saving and investing for retirement are among their top three longer-term financial planning priorities.

When asked if individuals even know where to go to find good financial or retirement planning advice, a third of women either “strongly or somewhat agree” with the statement that they do not know where to go for good financial or retirement planning advice. EBRI notes that this is substantially higher for single, never married women, as 45% report that they do not know where to go for financial advice.

Married women workers are the most likely to feel they have enough money to cover an emergency expense, while divorced women workers are the least likely to feel they can cover an emergency expense. Furthermore, married women workers are more likely to say they have done a retirement needs calculation than divorced or single, never-married women workers—49% compared with 35% each say they have done so.

Not Resonating 

Meanwhile, women of each marital status who are offered a workplace retirement plan cite better explanations for how much income their savings will produce in retirement in their top four most valuable improvements to their workplace plan. However, divorced women are most likely to say that none of the possible improvements are the most valuable, whereas married and single, never-married women have three of the same four in their top improvements.

Both divorced and widowed women retirees were more likely to have retired earlier than planned than married women retirees—51% versus 42%. Women retirees of each marital status have equal likelihoods of retiring later than planned at less than 1 in 10.

“The survey results are a real wake-up call when it comes to the situation of unmarried women workers and their retirement prospects,” observes Craig Copeland, Director of Wealth Benefits Research at EBRI. “The evidence shows that the current slate of ‘help’ solutions aren’t resonating well enough. In particular, a focus on retirement savings is not paramount for them, as opposed to meeting their current financial needs.”  

To that end, EBRI’s brief suggests that women in differing situations could benefit from receiving more specialized information and assistance with retirement preparations and everyday financial issues, such as emergency savings. Employers may want to develop new targeted messages, methods, or materials to better reach these women to increase the chances of them having a financially successful retirement, EBRI says.

What’s more, help from the financial sector in general could also be beneficial, as many of the unmarried women do not know where to go for help for good financial advice, the brief further emphasizes.

The 2022 Retirement Confidence Survey was conducted online from Jan. 4–26, 2022, among 2,677 Americans ages 25 or older. The survey included 1,545 workers and 1,132 retirees.
 

 

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