The two genders may be very different (and vive la difference, as the French would say), but not when it comes to their retirement expectations and preparations, according to a new survey.
The survey, by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, found that men and women are equally likely to say they or their spouse have saved for retirement and to say they are currently saving for retirement. EBRI’s 2013 Retirement Confidence Survey also found that women are as statistically likely as men to report they are offered (45 percent vs. 48 percent) and contribute to (36 percent vs. 40 percent) a workplace retirement savings plan.
In addition, women (45 percent) are statistically just as likely as men (47 percent) to indicate they have tried to calculate how much they will need to have saved by the time they retire so that they can live comfortably in retirement.
Men and women also share similar expectations for the age at which they plan to retire. Women (26 percent) and men (23 percent) are equally likely to report that they have changed their expected retirement age in the past 12 months.
However, the study found that men are significantly more likely than women to feel very confident about having enough money to live comfortably throughout their retirement years and having enough money to take care of basic expenses.
Despite the fact that women tend to live longer and face higher health care expenses in retirement due to their greater longevity, women are also statistically as likely as men to think they will need to accumulate less than $250,000 for retirement.
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