Women are in a unique position when it comes to saving for retirement. Here are a few tips to get you on the right road.
Save for your Retirement First, Children’s College Later- Studies show women consistently save for their children’s education well before they start to save for their own retirement. As opposed to men who save for their retirement first, then Children’s College later, as a result of that men have far more money saved for their retirement even though women tend to outlive men.
Start Saving Early- Women work fewer hours and take off more time than men do for various reasons like Pregnancy, Caring for Sick Children, Parents, etc. This can hurt their retirement account. A strategy to combat that is to start saving early, start saving right when you start working. Even if the amount is small, a little money goes along way. Your money will still grow when you are away for work.
Investing in the stock market- There is no need to be afraid of investing in the stock market. It is important for a woman to have a diversified portfolio of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. However, women tend to stay away from having stocks as part of their overall investment strategy. It is the fear of the unknown, wanting to avoid risks. With the proper research it becomes a calculated risk, which is well worth it in the long run.
It is possible that women have a little different priorities than men do on day to day matters. However when it comes to finances we have the same opportunity to plan and secure the life we want in our retirement years. The few tips above will get you off to a great start.
Andrea Amir, the Founder of http://SmartMoneyChicks.com, is passionate about helping women understand and use money to their advantage. Smart Money Chicks focus is creating financially savvy women.
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Good advice for women! I never thought about saving for myself first – guess it’s a typical motherly thing – saving for the kids first.
These rules apply to men as well as women, but women probably find it more challenging to follow them. Rule #1: Moms tend to think about their children (and their educatin) first and then about themselves (and their retirement). Rule #3: Studies have shown that women are financially more risk adverse than men are when it comes to investing in financial markets.
You are right.. it is second nature for us to put others before us. However, it can turn out to me a disadvantage to us in the long run.
Kinda of the put oxygen mask on first before others int he airplane thing..
You are so right Andrea,
My “kids” were almost out of the nest before I started saving for my retirement. My son was off to the Army, right out of high school and my daughter was a senior in high school.
Now that I have reached the big “50″, I really wish I would have started earlier. My husband and I will be trading time for money for a very long time.
Well, I don’t have any kids to save for, but I am guilty of waiting far too long to begin. When you’re 20 retirement seems sooo far away, and it’s hard to get kids that age to put some money aside for later. My dad tried, but somehow it never sank in. How do you convince kids that they too will need to retire someday?
I started my retirement savings about four years ago and I need to ramp it up one of these days. I honestly wish I had started sooner but debt and life kept it from being a priority, you know what I mean?
This is a nice article — looking forward to sharing some of your thoughts with my young daughters. Thanks for getting out there with some “Girl Power” and empowering women.
It used to be that all finances in the family were done the male spouse. Not anymore. Women are deeply involved in it directly. That could be one reason why so many women (like men) are deep in debt.
Wow some really thought-provoking tips for me here. I am one of those women who’s saving for kids education before retirement. I started saving for my son ever since he was born.
I thought about saving for retirement at 25, but I never did it. I wish I had but it’s nine years later so I’m not entirely out of time yet!
As someone who owns their own business, I don’t have the help of a corporation to help me plan for and achieve my retirement goals. These great tips will help me get to where I want to be. Thanks!
Andrea,
Good tips! It’s really important that we think about financial planning before rather than after an event forces us to do that. Thanks for reminding me. Having a plan in place alleviates such stress in our lives. Once I started doing something for our family’s financial well-being, I realized I can always change it up, as I learn more. Places online like this blog are a great place to learn!
Best,
Mary
Ah – but the financial roadmap is only a tiny part of the real planning women have to do when they retire. I’ve been writing about the issues that come up – from who does the chores? to who am I now? – and even after a year and half of being retired I’m still in the process of figuring out how to be happy living this new life. For the first time in my life (hence the title of the blog) I can choose to do exactly what I want and that leaves the big question of what that is open. Indeed I’ve been working towards this financially all of my working life … and I’m mostly loving it now.