“In retirement, women must do more with less. Thanks to a longer life expectancy, the average woman is facing bigger retirement expenses—and she’ll have to cover them with a substantially smaller nest egg and Social Security benefits. And that’s not all. When it comes to retirement readiness, a study by the education firm Financial Finesse found that a 45-year-old woman needs to save an additional $522,000 by age 65 to cover her expenses. A 45-year-old man faces a gap of just $267,000. (Those are median shortfalls; half of those surveyed needed more, half needed less.)
The issue has been in the spotlight as baby boomers enter retirement—but advisers who specialize in working with women say the gravity of the problem isn’t fully appreciated. “This is off-the-charts severe,” says Manisha Thakor, director of wealth strategies for women at BAM Alliance, a network of financial advisers. “There’s a trainwreck happening, and society is saying, ‘the train may have some problems.'”” -Kiplinger