Half of women retirees say retirement is pricier than they expected

Posted by News Room 11 December 2024

Dive Brief:

  • Only 1 in 5 retired women say retirement has been what they expected, and 1 in 4 say it is not at all what they expected, according to the results of a survey conducted by Morning Consult for financial services company Corebridge Financial released Wednesday. 
  • The biggest surprise was cost, with half of the 2,574 women surveyed saying retirement has been more expensive than they predicted. Although 51% say their financial health is good or very good, 63% of retired women wish they would have started saving sooner.
  • “It’s encouraging to see more than half of retired women feeling good about their current financial situations, but there are clearly some stark differences between expectations for retirement and the realities,” Terri Fiedler, president of retirement services at Corebridge Financial, said in a statement.

Dive Insight:

Only 27% of retired women started saving and investing for retirement between the ages of 18-29, and 42% say they didn’t prioritize financial and retirement planning until they were 41 or older, the survey found. Another 20% say they still haven’t started. 

Among those women who are still working, less than half feel like they’re on a good course for retirement. Nonretired women cite inflation, their ability to retire comfortably and running out of funds during retirement as their top concerns. Similarly, retired women identified inflation and running out of money during retirement as their most pressing financial concerns. 

But there are hurdles to addressing those concerns. Nearly 4 in 10 nonretired women say trying to do so results in too much stress, and nearly 1 in 3 retired women say they aren’t in a position to address their concerns. 

Nearly 60% of workers at mid- and large-sized companies don’t feel confident they’ll be able to retire by their mid-60s, according to an April report by Economist Impact and TIAA subsidiary Nuveen. That sentiment was higher among Black, Hispanic and Asian workers compared to White workers, the firms said. 

There’s a big gap between the amount of money workers say they will need to retire comfortably and what they have actually saved, a study last year by Northwestern Mutual found. For example, workers ages 70 and above expected to need an average of about $936,000 but had only saved about $114,000, the firm said.