Empowered strategies women need for financial control

With more options and earning power than ever before, many women are in a position to create the retirement they worked hard to achieve. As financial professionals, it’s time to take a closer look at retirement challenges facing women and strategies you can use to empower them. A critical place to start is considering how longevity, earnings and marital status can affect their outcomes.

Choosing to stay single

More women are choosing to stay single and their wealth is increasing because of it.?Single women without kids had an average of?$65,000 in wealth?in 2019, compared with $57,000 for single, child-free men.?Additional research shows that women age 50+ have a higher median net worth than men age 50+.

Financial professionals can help by encouraging women to consider their options to optimize savings, such as:

• Maximize 401(k) contributions.
• Consider other options to grow wealth.
• Review expenses to find options to increase emergency fund.
• Build a plan to pay off debt.
• Review disability and long-term care insurance options.

Ask open-ended questions and understand what’s unique to her situation and steps she may need to take.

Longevity risk in marriage

When women are married, they need to plan for the likelihood of outliving their spouse and the importance of taking an active role in their retirement planning. On average, women tend to outlive men by about 6 years. Retirement savings need to account for her longer retirement, as well as the extra expenses that are likely in those years, such as higher healthcare and the need for long term care. ?Specific steps to take include:

• Include both spouses in planning conversations.
• Encourage women to share responsibility and understanding of both the day-to-day and long-term finances. Handling finances after the death of a spouse can be overwhelming under any circumstances. Being involved along the way can help manage the difficulty at a trying time.
• Carefully review Social Security benefits and options. Married couples are eligible for the higher of their individual benefit amount or the?spousal benefit amount. The spousal benefit can be helpful when one spouse has significantly lower earnings or doesn’t qualify for benefits at all. The rules are complex, however, and carefully coordinating benefits is essential.

Social Security payouts are also complex for women who are divorced or widowed. Depending on their income and the length of the marriage, they’ll be able to compare a benefit earned on their own with a benefit based on their spouse’s benefits. Understand the details of your clients’ specific situation to help guide them to a well-informed decision.

Earnings gap

While wages have improved for some women, the earnings gap remains real for others. Many factors contribute to earnings differences and need to be acknowledged within a financial plan. One significant impact is that lower total career wages affect the amount women receive in Social Security benefits when they retire.?

As the only source of guaranteed income many women have, it’s important to consider the Social Security payout strategy and how waiting to claim can increase the monthly payout. You may also want to review how fixed indexed annuities can be another important option for additional guaranteed income.?

As a top provider of annuities, Athene is here to help and can provide additional resources and ideas on how to help your female clients retire with confidence.