GAO* Report on Retirement Security: Older Women Report Facing a Financially Uncertain Future
GAO-20-435: Published: Jul 14, 2020. Publicly Released: Aug 13, 2020
What GAO Found
In all 14 focus groups GAO held with older women, women described some level of anxiety about financial security in retirement. Many expressed concerns about the future of Social Security and Medicare benefits, and the costs of health care and housing. Women in the groups also cited a range of experiences that hindered their retirement security, such as divorce or leaving the workforce before they planned to (see fig.). Women in all 14 focus groups said their lack of personal finance education negatively affected their ability to plan for retirement. Many shared ideas about personal finance education including the view that it should be incorporated into school curriculum starting in kindergarten and continuing through college, and should be available through all phases of life.
Women Age 70 and Over by Marital Status
Note: Percentages do not add up to 100 percent due to rounding.
Individual women's financial security is also linked to their household where resources may be shared among household members. According to the 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances, among households with older women, about 23 percent of those with white respondents and 40 percent of those with African American respondents fell short of a measure of retirement confidence, indicating their income was not sufficient to maintain their standard of living. The likelihood of a household reporting high retirement confidence rose in certain cases. For example among households of similar wealth, those with greater liquidity in their portfolio and those with defined benefit plan income were more likely to report high retirement confidence.
Why GAO Did This Study
Older adults represent a growing portion of the U.S. population and older women have a longer life expectancy, on average, than older men. Prior GAO work has found that challenges women face during their working years can affect their lifetime earnings and retirement income. For example, we found women were overrepresented in low wage professions, paid less money than their male counterparts during their careers, and were more likely to leave the workforce to care for family members. Taken together, these trends may have significant effects on women's financial security in retirement.
GAO was asked to report on the financial security of older women. This report examines (1) women retirees' perspectives on their financial security, and (2) what is known about the financial security of older women in retirement.
GAO held 14 non-generalizable focus groups with older women in both urban and rural areas in each of the four census regions. GAO also analyzed data from three nationally representative surveys — the 2019 Current Population Survey, the Health and Retirement Study (2002-2014 longitudinal data), and the 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances.
Transcript for: Women's Perspectives on Retirement
Description: GAO spoke to nearly 200 older women across the country to learn more about their thoughts on retirement security. Women in all 14 focus groups said retirement security meant the ability to maintain independence, and cited concerns about health costs and negative impacts of a lack of personal finance education. Related GAO Works: GAO-20-435: Retirement Security: Older Women Report Facing a Financially Uncertain Future Released: August 2020 [Narrator:] How am I going to afford retirement? That's a big question for millions of Americans. But it's especially pressing for women who are more likely to live longer, interrupt their careers to care for others, and have lower average earnings than men. We spoke to nearly 200 older women across the country to learn more about their thoughts on retirement security. Here's some of what we heard. Whether women felt financially secure, often depended on their ability to be financially independent, and on whether they had accumulated enough financial assets to cover their future expenses.
Pages: 1 · 2
More Articles
- Julia Sneden Wrote: Love Your Library
- High Inflation and the Outlook for Monetary Policy By Federal Reserve Governor Michelle W. Bowman
- The Stanford Center on Longevity: The New Map of Life
- Julia Sneden Wrote: Old Dogs, New Tricks
- How to Talk With Someone About COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: "There's so much tension that people don't want to risk a relationship"
- Did Teenage 'Tyrants' Outcompete Other Dinosaurs? "Dinosaur communities were like shopping malls on a Saturday afternoon jam-packed with teenagers"
- Julia Sneden: Lessons From a Lifetime in the Classroom: YOU AND I, ME, US, THEY, THEM, WHATEVER! (and “Mike and I’s wedding”)
- US Census Report: Young Adults Living Alone Report Anxiety, Depression During Pandemic
- In the We Couldn't Resist Category: Just Icing on the Cake, Part One, by Roberta McReynolds
- Department of Justice Halted a Purported “ozone therapy” Center in Dallas From Offering Unproven Treatments for Coronavirus Disease