Women Struggle in Retirement
As much as I’m able, I keep my head buried in the sand when it comes to retirement, death, divorce, and other unpleasantries. I’m married in my mid-30’s and far from retirement. Tucker Emerson in this Los Angeles Times feature on women in retirement sounds like she was the same at my age. Tucker’s now divorced and in her 50’s struggling to make ends meet.
These are the threats to women’s retirement security:
- Higher overall rates of divorce and singlehood.
- Interrupted working years
- Long lives
- Gender differences in pay
- Trend away from traditional pensions
I hope that I’ll be able to continue my writing and editing career well into old age. It’s really hard to plan for these things when I don’t know if I’ll get mowed down by the bus tomorrow or live until I develop dementia at 103. Once I get started stressing about these things, I just can’t stop. Snowball is my middle name.
Have you started preparing for retirement?
Tags: retirement, women, womens health, womens issues, woman, health, divorce, finances
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4 opinions for Women Struggle in Retirement
Karen
Dec 28, 2006 at 5:37 pm
As of right now, we’re trying to become debt free. We’re almost done paying off “stupid” debt and then we’ll focus on our house debt and savings. In about 2 years, I plan to return to full-time teaching where I’ll have some nice benefits, including a retirement package. I’ve given up all the benefits so that I can work part-time while the kiddies are young.
Hsien-Hsien Lei, PhD
Dec 31, 2006 at 4:34 pm
Karen: Sounds like you’re doing good!
Karen
Dec 31, 2006 at 5:48 pm
Thanks Hsien. Working part-time has been hard on us financially, but we’re making it work. Sometimes my goals seem so far out of sight, but we’re getting there.
kelly
Mar 12, 2007 at 3:40 pm
A good book to help women financially prepare for the unexpected life challenges is Women, Get Answers About Your Money by Carolyn Castleberry. I am married, but I’ve found the advice and ideas in this book to be very informative and helpful.
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