Why Women Need to Plan Carefully to Make the Best Retirement Decisions
Reading Time: 2 MinutesLast Updated: March 30, 2020
At the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER), we are often asked why we focus on women. The answer is simple.
There are 5.8 million more women than men at age 65. Also, 67 percent of people over age 85 are female. Many individuals age 85 and over end up living in poverty after retirement. Women face greater financial long-term risks than men due to several factors:
- A longer lifespan.
- The need to pay for higher medical expenses.
- The loss of a spouse.
- The looming risk of running out of money.
At age 65, women can expect to live an average of 21 more years while men can expect to live an average of 18 more years. Younger women born from the Baby Boomer generation are also more likely to be single and never married. Additionally, divorce is especially harmful to women’s financial security.
Having more income during retirement is a direct result of the amount of wages earned, saved, and invested during working years and access to employer-sponsored retirement plans. Caring for children, parents, and spouses means some women spend years out of the job market — nine years on average — and those years of zero income are factored into their benefit calculation.
Women are also twice as likely to work part-time to accommodate family needs, usually in jobs with lower salaries and without access to retirement plans. These circumstances result in women having lower Social Security benefits and less money in savings.
In addition, women are in the difficult position of making big decisions while being unable to afford even a small mistake. For example, many women are surprised that their benefits are reduced by 25 percent if they claim Social Security at age 62, and they may not plan for the possibility of widowhood. Many couples may not understand the importance of maximizing the benefit for the surviving spouse; there is a shortfall after the loss of a spouse due to a decrease of one-third to one-half of their monthly benefit amount. We need to educate women about the value of increasing their benefit by replacing “zero” years with “earnings” years and delaying the start of their benefit.
WISER’s goal is to help women make the best decisions they can with the limited resources they may have. Through the National Resource Center on Women and Retirement, operated in partnership with the Administration for Community Living, WISER educates women about the importance of making financial and retirement planning a priority throughout their lives. Starting early, setting up a my Social Security account, learning the rules of the programs they rely on (Social Security and Medicare), and getting good advice can help women prepare for the unique financial challenges they may face in retirement.
Cindy Hounsell is the president for the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER).
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Tags: retirement, social security, Social Security benefits
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Cheryl A.
Here’s a question that has nothing to do with the stimulus (per see): I will be 62 in June. With the SS offices no longer open and the online login not recognizing me to create an account (Which is crazy since it’s the exact same information that came from your office last week!!!) how am I supposed to sign up for SS in a timely manner as required?
Cheryl A.
*per se
Vonda V.
Hi Cheryl, thank you for using our blog. We are sorry to hear that you are having difficulties with your my Social Security account. Even though you are unable to create a my Social Security account, you may still file your application online. You can apply online for retirement benefits if you:
•are at least 61 years and 9 months old;
•are not currently receiving benefits on your own Social Security record;
•have not already applied for retirement benefits; and
•want your benefits to start no more than 4 months in the future. (We cannot process your application if you apply for benefits more than 4 months in advance.)
We hope this helps.
smokinfranks p.
well, its an Incredible article. its very helpful for woman. i really like this article.
jane
How can I file taxes for 2018 and 2019 when I do not have the forms anymore? I am on SSI. Thank you
Ann C.
Hi, Jane. Thanks for your question. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is not taxable. However, under current law, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) considers Social Security benefits taxable income for beneficiaries whose countable income exceeds certain limits. To learn more, visit here. Also keep in mind the Department of the Treasury will soon provide information about economic impact payments under the recently enacted law, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act. Treasury, not Social Security, will be making direct payments to eligible people. Please do not contact Social Security about these payments as the agency does not have information to share. Instead, for the latest information, please visit http://www.irs.gov/coronavirus. We hope this information is helpful.
Sheri
People on SSI can’t save anything because your not allowed to have more then $2000 in assets. And even still, I’m living check by check.
frank
FORCED TO TAKE S.S. AT 62, WILL I GET A STIMULUS CHECK, I ONLY GET $1103.00 PER MONTH AND LESS FOR 2019 AND 2018. PRESETLY 83 AND HANDICAPPED, don’t file taxes as the amount is too low.
Vonda V.
Hi Frank. Please do not call us about economic impact payments. Instead, for the latest information, please visit http://www.irs.gov/coronavirus.
Premlata V.
I know few immigrants women who collects free SSI and Medicaid benefits. I also know several immigrants who have completed close to 30 credits and are not getting Medicaid or SSI benefit. What if the women are over 70 yrs old and can’t get the job? How can they recover the payments they have made into Social security and nit be able to get Medicaid benefits or SS?
When a single woman dies, no one gets her benefit. But when one spouse dies, the other spouse gets the higher benefit due to either spouse.
Rosy
that is the same rule for people born here. there s no difference whatsoever. Illegal immigrants cannot collect ss benefits. If these are legal immigrants the rule is the same for US women. they simply should have worked for wages longer than just 4 yrs. Easy. If a woman is 70 now she is more likely to have stayed hom to work for the family. still she s gonna end up poor and the same of these women you call immigrants, no difference whatsoever. its all part of the greater history and still existing misogyny and injustice.
GMargaret
Single women are the real losers here. I worked for over 40 years and always supported myself. I went from earning minimum wage to 50,000 per year by working hard. I got no assistance from anybody, ever. The last years of my employment were the best earning years and finally I had enough to be comfortable (although being a female, I earned much less than my male colleagues doing comparable work). Then, I faced age discrimination and was forced to leave my job at age 63. I lost my job at no fault of my own. Unemployment paid a pittance, not like today! After spending my savings and home equity, I was forced to take SS early at 1350/month. Something is wrong here. I know women who barely worked that are paid much more SS than me because they are married! It’s all so unfair! I should at least get my full retirement amount due to how long I worked, loss of job due to no fault of my own, the prevalence of age discrimination mainly against women, the cost of living…..etc., etc., etc………BTW, if you lose your job due to COV19, you are being paid a full salary or MORE from unemployment because they lost their job at no fault of their own. What’s the difference?! Everyone on unemployment lost their job at no fault of their own. Can I now file for retroactive payments.? I just lost half my 401K due to this virus and market crash. Who is going to make me whole? How am I supposed to live now?
Lynn
I totally agree with you. Been single my whole life, raised a daughter on my own, and worked very hard. I now make more than $75K a year, so I don’t even qualify for the COVID help, when I need it. I pay all the bills by myself, I don’t have a second income in this household. But, married couples who each make $75K a year or less (ie $150K/year) get the COVID assistance, yet they share a mortgage payment. This is ridiculously unfair.
retiree
you will get a checkas long as you make less than 99,000 a yearif your single. For every $100 over 75,000salery you will lose 5dollars in your check.
Rosy
you are up shit creek. the system is set up to favor married women so that most of such women can work like indentured slaves for their husbands and children at “zero” cost to the state. The bill is about to come!!
Anita
Will the DISABLED get the relief funding money also from the covid 19 pandemics?
Rossana
only if you get ssdi. Recipients of ssi, a federal welfare system, will not. this is because the stimulus is geared at workers in the traditional sense of the word. Workers usually work for decades, 2 3 or even 4. therefore their ss$ are too high for ssi. they get ssdi. If you are only eligible for ssi, or welfare, that means you worked very few years in your life, unless you were the sorry spouse of a sick man. Accordingly people who get welfare or ssi for disability or retirement are not “workers” like in the common sense of the word. We find exceptions, i.e. the female who stayed home as a stay at home mom for 3 or 4 decades. In such a case you better get a working man!!
Carol
NOT TRUE ABOUT DISABLED.
I am on SS and SSI and I qualify as does the poster asking. Here is the newest link published 7 hours ago. PLEASE KEEP in mind the stimulus comes from the IRS not the SSA
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2020/03/30/irs-gives-stimulus-check-timeline-payment-details/
Vonda V.
Hi Anita. Please do not call us about economic impact payments. Instead, for the latest information, please visit http://www.irs.gov/coronavirus.
Lisa A.
Thank you for this information. I sent Cindy an email.
CARMENZA E.
I am feel sad at this days because all the things that hapens.
and because I apply for my retirement and only have 32 credits .
they call me and I have have to work for the other 8 credits at this moment I can not do this because i dont live in usa and second i live whit my mother age 87 years and my brother 61 year he is almost blind.
what else I can do because for now I cant not work.
can you help me please?
Rossana
Call or email both the american and your country s embassy or consulate. they should help you.
Rosy
I get the feeling you are out of luck unless you come back to work for 2 more full yrs or 8 credits more. Talk to more than 1 people at ur consulate.
S. L.
Why can’t women not have the zero income years averaged in ? You allow SSI recipients to have a greater benefit than a woman who worked 35 years and took of 10 to raise children ! And what about WEP ? It affects more women than men – mostly due to low paying jobs in daycare, public school, food service and hospitality that we take to raise families. Many are raising families with no spousal social security benefits to use at retirement. Teachers quit the field of education due to the conflict between WEP and teacher retirement systems. Women (and men) staying home to raise families deserve more consideration than someone on SSI that only worked a couple of years.
Talash
I think it depends on the countries
Rosy
we are talking about USA here. lmao
tony
Too many people on welfare and SSI. They get free Medicaid while we got to pay $144/month for Medicare. They get free Section 8 housing and people on Social Security got to pay $1200/month rent. How can the average person on Social Security live off of $1100 a month.
Most of the retired workers’ 401K has been wiped away and all we get is $1200 stimulus check and those on SSI get the same $1200.
Christy
I’m disabled and have to try and live off of less than $900 a month. Why do you think people (like me) need section 8 housing? My rent is more than half of what I get a month. Stop blaming those of us who have to use resources available to us just so we can barely get by every month. Do you think it makes me feel good to have to apply for housing help and food stamps. I worked so hard and loved it. Now my body won’t let me do hardly anything. It’s the most worthless feeling I’ve ever had. I would love to go back to work. Because this life I have now, is no life I’d ever wish on anyone
tony
Congress gave free money to people on SSI which they never received during the 2008 recession. They should have given people on Social Security more money than those on SSI.
Rosy
Correct.
tony
When is the SSA going to open up their offices. The Republicans have everyone scared of this Coronavirus like they did with the weapons of mass destruction to get reelected.
Now the Trump administration said hundreds of thousands of people could die from the Coronavirus. Later the president is going to say he saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
China never said this was a new drug resistant coronavirus. The same drugs they use to treat the SARS coronavirus works on this one. Johnson and Johnson suppose to make one of the vaccine for us. Let’s get back to a normal life. Give the old and the sick the vaccine shot first like they do with the flu shot. Let’s open up our economy again. The Republicans have us caged up for long enough, so they can give out billions of dollars to bail out the big corporations. We were already heading into a recession and they exploited the coronavirus to bail out the big corporations and stock market.
Daisy
You really need to get educated about Corona Virus. It is serious. And seniors are in the high risk group. Put your partisanship aside and keep negativity down to “0”.
mary k.
Will they take my sim money for a over payments
Ken
Seriously? Your comments reflect a low information level about the whole subject.
Kathleen
So true and I know it’s hard to believe but I am disabled and have so much less income from 80,000.00 to 12063.00 a year also had a home 3 wonderful children and an abusing x husband I never asked for help and then my disability my children are adults and I also have wonderful grandchildren and 2 daughters in law and a wonderful son in law my daughter and husband are Air Force and they have 2 amazing children my ❤️ My daughters in law are both nurses who are working on the front lines of the pandemic I pray for them all day every day! My sons are also essential work and so amazingly well adjusted but all are very worried about bringing home the virus ? to my grandchildren 31/2 months,2,4and6 I am really really worried about them all. I miss them so very very much but I have always worked 8 hr job Retired 25 year banker and then a 2 nd or 3 rd job to make sure that we had enough. Now please I watched all races of people collecting money they just bought cars gold phones and so on as well they used drugs children suffered from a lot including love and education and food and shelter and then sold drugs to make more my family has worked their buts off and we are proud to be able to help some one in need. I don’t rat on people to each his/ her own and I refuse to allow anyone spoil our happy family. So I won’t be bothering with someone who does not deserve any space in my heart or head!!! But I really want to be listening closely for a fraud so that they can be either become a better person or not and really pay for the consequences. I am a spiritual person and even I don’t understand why?! But I will continue to pray and promise to pray for those who have no Problem taking and not giving! So if you are one of those people get with it because there’s always been some one watching!!!
Ramon
The mission of SSA is NOT to give you more, but to give you LESS, so that there are more funds for new beneficiaries.
Alex
very good
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