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Women and Retirement On May 23, 2002 at a Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing, women of all ages were called to take charge of their own retirement needs. "Navigating the challenges of retirement planning has become an increasingly complex task in today's society - for both men and women. For women, however, the retirement stool is significantly more wobbly than it is for men, and for that reason women need to become actively engaged in their own retirement planning," said Senator Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), Ranking Member of the committee. Senator John Breaux (D-LA), Chairman, agreed saying “Women are living longer, many times outliving their male spouses. Older women are also far more likely to be living in poverty than men. As this hearing will explore, there are many factors that contribute to these statistics - factors that cannot easily be changed. However, by building awareness of the important steps women can take to prepare for their own retirement, we can slowly begin to change these statistics as millions of women from the Baby Boom generation reach retirement age.” A full report on the hearing may be seen on the Committee’s Events web site. Craig chaired the hearing, which was held at his request, and said he is concerned about the problems women face in retirement, noting that although only about 12 percent of the elderly are below the poverty line, fully 74 percent of those are women. According to the U.S. Administration on Aging, most people do not realize that Social Security pays the average person about 40 percent of their earnings when they retire at age 65. To maintain a similar lifestyle, financial planners say you'll need 70 to 80 percent of the income you had before retirement. To help future generations of both men and women, both Muriel "Mickie" Siebert, founder of a Wall Street investment firm, and Dorcas Hardy, who served as Assistant Secretary of Human Services and as Commissioner of Social Security during the 1980s, called for more instruction in high schools and colleges so that both young women and men know how to handle money, including everything from checkbooks to 401(k) investment plans. Some interesting statistics were quoted by Cindy Hounsell, Executive Director, Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement from a study, Your Future Paycheck: What Women Need to Know About Pay, Social Security, Pensions, Savings and Investments (May 2002) which asserts a direct link between a woman’s current paycheck and her retirement prospects. Your Future Paycheck is the first report of its kind to address all the factors preventing women from a secure retirement. Findings from Your Future Paycheck include:
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