healthy finances

Unique Challenges for Women Investors

Submitted by Vickie Clark, Financial Advisor, Morgan Stanley

ue to a number of gender-based challenges, women may be playing catch-up when it comes to investing for retirement and other long-term financial goals. More than half of women surveyed recently are the primary breadwinners in their households, and women continue to lay claim to a growing share of the nations wealth.1 But even high net worth women cannot escape the gender-based challenges that may hinder their ability to ensure financial security in their later years. Consider the following factors affecting women as they invest for long-term financial goals such as retirement.
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The Gender Gap a Reality Check  Income: Women, on average, earn $0.77 for every dollar men earn a considerable difference over the course of a lifetime.2  E mployment: Women typically spend more years out of the workforce to care for family members. Studies estimate that 2 out of 3 informal caregivers are women, many of whom are middle-aged mothers with children or adult children living in their households.3 Since traditional pension plans and Social Security benefits are generally determined by years of service, leaving work for periods of time often means lower retirement benefits.

R  etirement Income: The average annual pension benefit of a woman aged 65 and over is $12,137, compared with $19,557 for the average 65-year-old man.4 Furthermore, only 29.4 percent of women over 65 receive pension benefits at all.4  L ongevity: Women tend to outlive men by about five years, and life expectancies continue to rise. 5 In addition, according to U.S. Census Bureau data from 2010, women age 65 and over were three times as likely as men of the same age to be widowed (40 percent compared with 13 percent), and nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of women age 85 and over were widowed, compared with 35 percent of men. 6 What does this mean to you? Simply that all women whether single, married, divorced, or widowed should make investing for long-term financial goals a lifelong endeavor. If youd like to learn more, please contact Vickie Clark, Financial Advisor at Morgan Stanley. Phone Number: 309-671-2871 Web Address: www.morganstanleyfa.com/vickie.clark. Article by McGraw Hill and provided courtesy of Morgan Stanley Financial Advisor.
Footnotes/Disclaimers: 1. Source: Prudential, Financial Experience & Behaviors Among Women, August 2012. 2. Source: Institute for Womens Policy Research, The Gender Wage Gap: 2011, September 2012. 3. Source: National Public Radio (npr.org), Discovering the True Cost of At-Home Caregiving, May 1, 2012. 4. Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute, Retirement Annuity and Employment-Based Pension Income, Among Individuals Age 50 and Over: 2008 (most recent data available). Published

May 2010. 5. Source: Center for Disease Control, National Center for Health Statistics, October 10, 2012 (based on preliminary 2011 data, most recent available). 6. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2010 (most recent data available).

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October 2013 Peoria Healthy Cells Magazine Page 29