With more women remaining single, nearly half of all marriages ending in divorce, and the odds of becoming a widow by the age of 55 hovering around 75 percent, nearly 9 out of 10 women will be solely responsible for their financial well-being at some point in their lives. But many are ill-prepared to do so.
Here are several areas where women fall behind when it comes to planning for their financial future:
- Women save considerably less for retirement, on average 60 percent less than men according to a 2010 study conducted by LIMRA of close to 2,500 employees. This is significant because women typically live longer than their male counterparts and need more retirement savings.
- In that same LIMRA study, 29 percent of men and only 14 percent of women consider themselves knowledgeable about financial services and products. Fifty-four percent of women felt at least somewhat knowledgeable about financial products and services, but nearly three-quarters of men felt the same way.
- And, in 2011 a Harris Interactive survey commissioned by RocketLawyer.com found that of the more than 1,000 people surveyed, 5 percent of the women do not have a will, 26 percent of them citing cost as the primary reason they don’t have one.