It's a fact that:
Nearly two-thirds of women 65 and over get a majority of their income from Social Security, and nearly one-third rely on Social Security for 90% or more of their income. Without Social Security, more than half of all elderly women would be living in poverty.
Women rely more on Social Security than men because they earn less. And they usually collect less from Social Security when they retire because they are more likely to take time out of their careers to care for children or elderly relatives and are paid less than men for equal work. Hence, their contributions are less, as are their later benefits.
As of March 2005, less than half of the 60 million waged and salaried women participated in a retirement plan.
Given the above statistics and the current economic crisis, particularly on Wall Street and world stock markets, the future of women, whether retired yet or not, does not appear to be encouraging. Younger women should begin now to plan, and save, for their retirement.
In an article by Sharon Johnson posted on the WUNRN website on September 16, 2008, she states, "Wall Street's havoc is expected to be especially hard on the retirement plans of women, whose savings cushions are smaller and less able to absorb the shock of major market reversal. Some retired women may be pulled back into the job market."
Similar concerns were expressed by the executive director of the Older Women's League, based in Arlington, VA, and the vice president for family economic security at the National Women's Law Center in Washington, D.C. Since many women have a significant portion of their retirement savings invested in the stock market, either through 401-k plans or in their personal portfolio, they have already, or will if the crisis continues, lost a large percentage of the funds invested for retirement.
According to the article, the director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, "predicted that that expanding financial crisis would cause many women to revise their retirement plans." She went on to say that "Women who had hoped to retired at age 62 will have to work until 70 or more to catch up. We will see a lot of older women putting up with stressful situations in the workplace that they had hoped to leave behind."
Many women who retired several years ago may be forced to return to the work force of compensate for their losses. Unfortunately, because of increased unemployment (the highest rate in 5 years), many will not be able to find jobs. Some older women who have lived alone may have to move in with relatives and friends because of the high cost of housing. Certainly, the quality of life of many older women will change for the worse.
The current crisis should serve as a wake-up call for younger women to shift their focus from paying off their college loans and buying their first homes to saving money now for their retirement later. There are many books on the market giving many possible strategies.
The article concludes that the next US administration should do all it can to protect Social Security. The senior policy advisor at WISER said "Social Security benefits will become increasingly important in the years to come because they include a cost-of-living adjustment...Cost-of-living increases are extremely important because more women are living to their 80s and 90s and exhausting other resources."
For the entire article, go to http://www.womensenews.org:80/article.cfm?aid=3742
