Retirement: Gender financial gap is worsening amid savings imbalance [View all]

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Yahoo Money

Retirement: Gender financial gap is worsening amid savings imbalance

Stephanie Asymkos · Reporter
Tue, August 10, 2021, 3:18 PM

The roaring stock market is minting a new crop of 401(k) millionaires, but only half of the population isn’t feeling the gains.

The average woman’s retirement savings dropped from 70 cents for every $1 saved by men to 68 cents in the past year, according to a recent analysis done by LT Trust.

The analysis, which was based on the 401(k)s of 59,000 American workers across all 50 states, found that 78% of men increased their retirement portfolio of stocks while 51% of women did the same. This imbalance, along with the gender pay gap, has far-reaching implications for long-term retirement security.

“The pandemic is exacerbating the already poor condition of women’s future financial security,” said Stacy Miller, a Tampa-based certified financial planner. “It has profoundly affected [jobs in] sectors more commonly filled by women such as hospitality, travel, and education.”

For the average woman to make up the gender pay gap, considering women earn 84% of what men earn, she would have to work an extra 42 days in a year to earn a man’s wage. When stretched over the course of a career, a woman’s lower wages directly impact her ability to save and live comfortably in retirement. Furthermore, women's retirements are statistically based on life expectancies.

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