Feb. 10: BEST FROM THE BLOGOSPHERE

February 10, 2025

In the U.S., retiring women wish they’d saved more

A study south of the border has found that half of retired women are finding life after work more expensive than expected – with 63 per cent of them wishing they had started saving earlier.

The study from Corebridge Financial is covered by writer Trina Paul for Investopedia.

“Half of the women surveyed in a recent study by Corebridge Financial said that retirement was more expensive than they had anticipated, while just under half said that they retired earlier than they expected,” she writes.

An earlier than expected retirement, she notes, can mean “retirees have insufficient savings” and are forced to take government retirement benefits (here in Canada, this would be the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security) earlier than planned, leading to “lower monthly cheques.” And, the article continues, “since women have longer life expectancies than men, they may need more in retirement savings or make their dollars stretch for longer.”

These realities point out the need for a solid retirement savings plan, states Terri Fiedler of Corebridge Financial in the article.

“Women are both starting retirement earlier than expected and managing costs that are higher than anticipated. These dual challenges point to the importance of creating an action plan early in your working years that can help you both build your retirement savings and make them last throughout your retirement,” Fiedler tells Investopedia.

As noted, nearly two-thirds of the retired women surveyed say they now wished they’d started saving for retirement earlier, the article notes. As well, “40 per cent said they didn’t start to prioritize retirement until they were age 41 or older,” the article continues.

The earlier you start saving, the better, notes the article.

“Since investors benefit from the power of compound interest, those who start saving for retirement earlier in life may not need to invest as aggressively as those who start later. In fact, nearly one-third (31 per cent) of retired women surveyed said that, when they were working, they wished they had contributed more from each paycheque into a retirement plan,” the article notes.

The article concludes by pointing out that good workplace pension plans are not easy to find these days.

“While more workers could rely on pensions in the past, the responsibility of saving for retirement has largely fallen on individuals. One-third (33 per cent) of retired women said they had a pension versus nine per cent of non-retired women who said they had one,” the article concludes.

If you are among the fortunate people who have any kind of retirement arrangement through work, be sure to join up as soon as you can and contribute as much as possible.

If you don’t have a plan to join, don’t worry – any Canadian with registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) room can join the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. You decide what you’d like to contribute, and we’ll do the rest, investing your savings in a low-cost, professionally managed pooled fund. At retirement, you’ll have choices on how to turn savings into income, such as SPP’s lifetime monthly annuity payment options or the more flexible Variable Benefit.

Check out SPP today!

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Investopedia

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