Article by Christina
The latest research from Scottish Widows shows that women require significantly more in pension savings than men, just to remain equal. The study revealed the following statistics:
- A 25-year-old man today will live on average to 86, but a woman will live to 89. 3 years longer. That means that a woman would need a £400,000 pension pot to match a mans £350,000 fund, 12.5% more.
- It gets worse! Women will spend an average of 460 days in care, whereas men will spend only 100 days in care. The extra cost of care for women will be £35,000 at current rates.
- According to Scottish Widows, this means that women currently have to save an extra £2,500 a year into their pensions from the age of 25 just to match an equivalent man. That’s over £200 a month.
- These figures don’t take into account the gender pay gap inequality either!
- Or women leaving the workplace when they have children which sets their pension savings back even further.
- Despite this women have closed the savings gap in terms of the Adequate Saving Index, in that 60% of women are now saving enough for their retirement, the same number as men. Its just that women have to save more!
So, what can be done? Scottish Widows suggest that there are a few changes that could make a big difference, including improved maternity pension contributions, including pensions in divorce settlements and of course fixing the gender pay gap.
If you’re a woman it might be a good idea to seek out a Female Financial Adviser to see how much you should be saving.
It would also be helpful if the government wasn’t dragging its feet over the promised pension tracing service. Over 200,000 people have contacted the pension tracing service to try to track down their lost pensions. Lots of them women.
The government introduced the Dormant Asset service back in 2008 to help people trace lost money in bank accounts, but so far the pension equivalent hasn’t been launched. The government says it is waiting for the pensions dashboard to be developed and finalised, but that has been in the works for a number of years now with no sign of any dates yet.
In the meantime, people continue to struggle with their pension savings, especially women.
If you would like to talk to a Femal Financial Advisor just give Christina or Adele a call.
