Practical Applications of Women in Retirement: Living Longer, Less Money Saved

Abstract

In <ext-link><bold><italic>Women in Retirement: Living Longer, Less Money Saved</italic></bold></ext-link>, from <bold><italic>The Journal of Retirement</italic></bold>, <bold><italic>Special 2022 Issue On Race, Gender, and Retirement</italic></bold>, <bold>Toni Brown</bold>, a retirement strategist at <bold>Capital Group</bold>, addresses the actions the retirement industry can take to improve the retirement challenges faced by women. Because women live longer than men, they need to fund more years of retirement. However, due in large part to pay inequities, women generally earn less than men and consequently save less for retirement. Brown suggests that if retirement plans were better designed, women could gain a better retirement outcome. Rather than creating homogenous plans that apply industry and national averages, employers need to identify the unique differences of their specific employee base and build plans that better accommodate their employees. They also need to use the information they gain in their analysis to customize their communication plans for employees. Improved communications tailored to a unique employee group can increase the understanding of retirement issues and participation in retirement plan offerings. In addition, Brown suggests, building stronger defined-contribution plans and employing more automatic features also can increase participation and savings rates.