Jul 15: Best from the blogosphere
July 15, 2019
A look at the best of the Internet, from an SPP point of view
Women have to plan for a longer retirement
What works for a man may not work for a woman, and that sentiment is true when it comes to retirement planning.
According to the Young and Thrifty blog, women need “to know how to save more than men.”
They need to save more than the conventional 10 per cent of salary, the post notes, or else they could risk not having enough money in retirement. “Advice given to women about how much to save for retirement may be so far off base that, according to the Broadbent Institute, 28 per cent of senior women are currently living in poverty in Canada,” the article notes.
The article notes that as a starting point, women earn less than men, about 87 cents for every dollar earned by a man. That means less to save for retirement, the blog notes.
Secondly, women “tend to invest more conservatively than men,” the article advises. Women, the article notes, tend to shy away from riskier market investments in favour of GICs and high-interest savings accounts. “While these can be great short-term strategies, these investments offer a lower return, stunting the growth of the money over the long term,” the blog reports.
So the problem is that women “are earning less, saving less, and generally choosing investment strategies that yield less,” the article notes. “But because women generally live longer than men, they need to squirrel away more money in their nest egg.”
The article notes that women tend to live four years longer than men, meaning a more expensive retirement. “Four years longer doesn’t seem that long, but if you assume a retirement age of 65, that’s 28 per cent more years spent in retirement,” the article warns.
A final factor – women tend to leave the workforce to raise children, meaning they don’t have as long a career or as many opportunities to save, the article says.
What to do?
The article advises women to consider sharing some of their parental leave time with their spouses, so that they aren’t off work as much. If you are off on a leave, a spouse can open a spousal RRSP to ensure that retirement savings continues while you are caring for a child. The article urges “more aggressive investments” by women, including the use of exchange-traded funds or ETFs, so that you are getting more benefit from the stock market.
And finally, the article says the savings target for women should be 18 per cent of income, as opposed to 10 per cent for men.
Interestingly, the Saskatchewan Pension Plan was invented with women in mind. The SPP started out as a way for busy women and moms to have their own way to save. The SPP offers professional investing at a very low cost, is scaleable (you can put more in when you make more, and less in when you make less) and very importantly, offers a simple way to turn those savings into reliable monthly lifetime income when you leave the workforce.
It’s an ideal tool for women who want to upgrade their retirement savings – check them out today.
| Written by Martin Biefer |
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Martin Biefer is Senior Pension Writer at Avery & Kerr Communications in Nepean, Ontario. A veteran reporter, editor and pension communicator, he’s now a freelancer. Interests include golf, line dancing, classic rock, and darts. You can follow him on Twitter – his handle is @AveryKerr22 |
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