Tom Murphy
RedwoodAge.com

There've been a number of recent studies warnng that tens of millions of women are ill-prepared for the financial travails of retirement. Now there's a sign they're starting to get the message.

A survey of 1,194 people twixt 45 and 74 showed women are more worried than men about the practical aspects of retirement while men are more worried about having enough to do.

In a back-handed sort of way, that's reassuring. Other studies have shown that while the average woman has much less income during retirement, she faces higher costs and a greater risk of being forced to cut her standard of living by trimming spending by a quarter to a third, depending on her current age. While there are ways to make those cuts and still maintain a healthy lifestyle, it's not a prospect most women would relish.

"While our research shows that men worry more about having enough to do in later life, aging is a woman's world," said Joseph Coughlin, founder and director of the MIT AgeLab. "She is likely to outlive her male counterpart, remain active longer, and be responsible for caring for him and others - so it only makes sense that she is more worried about how she is going to live than about what she is going to be doing."

It's notable that the study by the MIT AgeLab and a team of "financial gerontologists" from the Hartford Financial Services Group was conducted late in 2007, just before a stock market plunge in December that presaged the great housing meltdown of 2008. 

Since then, retirement nest eggs have shrunken along with major stock indexes; the Dow Jones Industrial Index has lost more than 20 percent of its value since then.

Still, at the time of the study, 36 percent of the women were concerned about managing their savings - nearly double the 19 percent of men who worried about that. It's likely both those numbers have risen given the ongoing turmoil in the markets.

Well-placed Worry
"Women's worry is well placed," said Stephanie Chappell, who is part of The Hartford's "Advance 50" team. "They'll likely live longer than men, yet have less retirement income. Even for married women, a newly widowed woman's income decreases by 50 percent on average, yet expenses only decrease 20 percent...In addition to facing cash flow challenges, women are often a caregiver to aging parents, spouses or loved ones. 

"And when financial advisors have traditionally focused on the male spouse, it's no surprise women are anxious about their finances later in life," she said.

Waller recommends that women turn worry into action by focusing on three key areas:

• Build a "safety net" by exploring steady income sources along with other investment options.
• Plan for growth by starting to save early and then invest aggressively. He noted worry can lead to fear, prompting investors to act too conservatively during periods of market volatility. 
• Take care of yourself. Investing in health and wellness can help forestall expensive illnesses.

"Of course, these strategies won't solve everyone's worries, and every situation is different," noted Waller. "But women's focus on the long-term is a key strength. Most important, a qualified financial advisor can help to ensure that both spouses are actively engaged."