Study Shows Women Are Rarely Involved in Couples’ Retirement Planning

When you and your partner are thinking about your future together in retirement, have you had conversations to get on the same page about your savings and expense strategies? Retirement is a lifestyle adjustment, especially when you’ve been used to working regularly and relying on that consistent income to pay your expenses.

When saving for two or combining two different retirement savings strategies for a married couple in Virginia, it’s key to think together about how you will make it work.

A new study identified that over 1/5th of women have no part in retirement planning as part of a couple. The Fidelity Investments’ couples and money study discovered that although 57% of survey respondents indicated they are joint decision makers on long term financial goals and retirement, over half of all non-retired couples disagreed on how much money they’d need to have set aside in order to retire comfortably.

Many of them have a discomfort level when it comes to talking about money which could also generate problems as it relates to estate and asset protection planning.

Over 22% of women involved in the study say they had no or little involvement in retirement planning. Women cannot afford to ignore the impact of potential retirement planning particularly given their higher rates of longevity. Women are also often entering retirement with fewer resources than their partners, making it more difficult to have the appropriate amount of money set aside to pay for a comfortable retirement.

Don’t wait to talk about retirement.