Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things about finances women need to think about

I jotted these ideas down from several different articles I've seen in the last month. With boomers starting to retire, there's a lot out there about women and finances, because the push to get women in the workplace and out of the home began around 1970.

1. Today, women are much more likely to have a successful career than their mothers or grandmothers.

2. They are also more likely to inherit wealth.

3. They will work fewer years than men because of time out to raise children.

4. They are more likely to be getting their health care through their husband’s job.

5. They have higher divorce rates than my generation, which affect their pensions and health insurance.

6. The average age of widowhood in America is 55.

7. Women are more likely to be focused on the present, and tend to postpone important decisions that will affect them 20 years from now. It's a lot more fun to plan a birthday party than read the business section of the paper.

8. Fewer than 1/2 of women have a retirement plan. That would be me until about 20 years ago.

9. Women actually prefer a female financial advisor, but there aren’t very many. No comment. I like our guy and he's younger than us.

10. Gen-Y women are often too busy paying off student loans, credit card debt and leisure expenses to worry about retirement. Gen-X hasn’t done much better. I did no retirement stuff until I was in my 40s, then I started putting the maximum allowed in my 403-b, so it is possible to catch up. But we are savers by nature and have never had a penny of credit card debt--you’re a different generation.

11. 45% of 65 year old women will live to be 90. Women should be saving $5,000 a year starting at age 25 to maintain a middle class lifestyle when they are retired. It’s called the miracle of compounding interest (and the impossible dream, in my opinion).

12. The poverty rate for elderly women is nearly twice that of elderly men (13. 1%) and they live an average of 6 years longer. Most of these women were comfortable when their husbands were still alive. Elderly widowers are more likely to remarry (someone younger) which keeps them out of nursing homes, and they have a chauffer, cook and companion. Because I have a teacher’s pension, I am not eligible for my husband’s social security--so you need to know the law when planning.

13. Uncle Sam is a poor step-father for your children, and an even worse live-in boyfriend when you're older. He’ll keep you poor and begging for life if you start depending on him. Marriage and the extended family is still the best financial and health safety net you can have--but take care of yourself.

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