women

Not just for women

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This spring I read the book The Smart Woman’s Guide to Planning for Retirement: How to Save for Your Future Today by Mary Hunt and want to pass on a few important excerpts:

Pages 162-164

“Here are six steps you can take to become more financially independent.

  1. Maintain good records.  Be sure you have copies of all current assets, bank account numbers, safe deposit information, insurance beneficiary information, IRAs and other retirement account records, tax returns going back seven years, mutual funds statements, stocks and bonds, health insurance policies, homeowner’s and auto insurance policies, the lease or mortgage information for your home, wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and birth and marriage certificates.  It is also a good idea to keep receipts of major appliances with information on warranties.

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Social Security Credits for Moms?

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From the Center for Retirement Research…

Social Security Credits for Moms?

August 4, 2016

“Social Security’s benefits were designed for the typical family when the pension program was enacted in the 1930s….  A spouse, usually the wife, is guaranteed half of her husband’s full retirement age benefit under the program when she reaches her full retirement age – whether she works or not.  When her husband dies, her survivor benefit equals his pension benefit.

Social Security credits

But women who marry and become divorced within 10 years are not eligible for these benefits.  Nor, of course, are single working women, who receive benefits based solely on their own work histories.  Increasing numbers of women reaching retirement age today either were in short-term marriages or never married and won’t receive a spousal or survivor benefit. The problem is that most of these women are mothers.”

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Pay gap major cause for retirement insecurity

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pay gap
sbeconomic.com

Women more likely than men to face poverty during retirement

by Adam Allington, Associated Press

July 10, 2016

CHICAGO — “During their working years, women tend to earn less than men, and when they retire, they’re more likely to live in poverty.

These are women who raised children and cared for sick and elderly family members, often taking what savings and income they do have and spending it on things besides their own retirement security.

The National Institute on Retirement Security, a nonprofit research center, reports that women are 80 percent more likely than men to be impoverished at age 65 and older. Women age 75 to 79 are three times more likely.”

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