*This is a sponsored post for SheSpeaks/Prudential
So I’m 40 now. My friends are 40. Some are divorced or on their way to it, some still single, some are still trying to achieve their dreams, some are doing a-ok and others have settled for a less than glamorous existence just to find stability and security.
40 crept up on me and while 17 year old, idealistic me didn’t totally get her way, adult me totally sees how she got here and is taking steps to be in an even more secure place in the next decade. Life throws you curve balls and even the most diligent planners, like me, get side blinded by life’s little thorns. I get it and I’m part of this very large demographic of scrambling at 40 to set myself up for the next 10, 20, 40 years. I’m not quite where I want to be financially, but I am determined to make plans and actions to change that.
For many women these days, life may not be quite what we had envisioned it would be at this age and the financial future seems a bit bleak. But I’m here to tell you that you that it doesn’t have to be. You can own your future, starting right now. And you are not alone!
Women have taken on new roles and responsibilities in so many areas of their lives. But when it comes to taking charge of their finances, statistics show that women are still falling behind:
- On average women have 30% lower retirement balances than men1
- 44% of women have no life insurance. Even among the ones that do own life insurance, most are underinsured2
There is a real paradox here. Women retire with 67% of the wealth of men, and they live 5-6 years longer than men do.3 Women are more likely to be single later in life. Marriage patterns have changed over the last few decades. Divorce has become more prevalent, and more women are choosing to remain single.4
Prudential has been researching the financial challenges women face for several years. The Financial Experience study tracks women’s outlook towards financial planning. Women do care about financial security (their most important goal is having enough money to maintain their lifestyle through retirement). Prudential has learned that many women don’t care for the financial services jargon and they feel time-starved and cash-strapped. So even though they take care of day-to-day budgeting, they leave out some of the important pieces of long-term financial planning such as insurance and saving for retirement.
Well, why is that?
There are four challenges women face that are impacting their finances:
- Wage & Income Gap: Women don’t earn as much as men. The average woman working full-time earns 79% of the income earned by her male counterpart.5
- Investment Gap: Women don’t invest to the same degree as men. 7 Women’s discomfort with investing comes at a high cost for them: They are apt to delay investing, invest more in lower risk, lower return investments and are more likely to run out of money in retirement.
- Women are Living Longer and Living Alone: 5-6 years is the approximate number by which women outlive men.3
- Time Gap: Women may feel they do not have enough time for financial planning. On average, women in the U.S. spend 28 hours per week on household chores – 65 percent more than the average for men.8
These challenges, combined with behavioral inhibitors, mean that many women are unprepared for their financial future. The key behaviors that are holding women back are lower engagement, procrastination, impulse control and an optimism bias.
That’s why Prudential wants to help women educate themselves about these issues, so that they prepare and protect themselves. Prudential aims to empower women with financial solutions so they can be confident they are making the right decisions for themselves and their families.
Prudential believes that women should AND can take control of their finances. Their goal is to help raise awareness and start a dialogue that will cause a ripple effect and change women’s financial lives for the better, starting now!
Together we will help women feel more confident and comfortable with their finances so they will be empowered to #OwnMyFuture! Be sure to visit bit.ly/ownmyfuture to seek a Prudential financial professional to help you get started on your journey.
And here is a quick video we can relate to!
Sources:
1.Source: Prudential Retirement analysis reflecting defined contribution plan balances of Prudential record-kept plans as of December 31, 2015
2.Source: LIMRA study, Life Insurance Ownership in Focus, U.S. Person-Level Trends: 2016
3.Source: Prudential Retirement analysis; National Center for Health Statistics, Health, United States, 2015: With Special Feature on Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. Hyattsville, MD. 2016
4.Source: Cruz, Julisa, “Marriage: More Than a Century of Change” (FP13-13), National Center for Family & Marriage, 2013,)
5.Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Historical Income Tables Table P-40: Women’s Earnings as a Percentage of Men’s Earnings by Race and Hispanic Origin, 2016
6.Source: Social Security Administration, Fast Facts and Figures About Social Security, 2016
7.Source: http://fortune.com/2016/05/11/sallie-krawcheck-ellevest-launch;
8.Source: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, October 2016,
http://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?queryid=547579.Source: US Census Bureau 2015;
