Though we talk up work force empowerment, women remain still stuck in the 1950s when it comes to retirement planning. Even the savviest of women admit they're leaving the retirement discussion to the men. According to the ING DIRECT and DailyWorth.com poll, more than one in three married women "hand over the reins for their retirement planning to their spouse or significant other."
Is retirement planning so complex that women believe they're better off leaving that Wall Street jabber to their husbands? It's certainly not doing any justice to the equality argument. And we're negligent not to remind ourselves we're all as responsible for our own retirement as our own health.
(Plus, we're all well aware of the divorce rate in this country, and with more than seven million unmarried couples – including retirees – living together, it's not a risky bet that many of us might be either on our own, or handling retirement finances separately from our significant other.)
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The survey was a real let-down, until I saw more research that came out just this week, this time from Scottrade. The survey found women's confidence in their ability to plan for retirement has reached a three-year high, with 69 percent of women rating their confidence level as good or very good. In fact, for the first time in three years, women's confidence is on par with men's (71 percent of men rate their confidence as good or very good). And more women than men are restructuring their portfolios to include investments that will generate income during retirement, 40 percent to 30 percent respectively.
In the end, we may all be equally susceptible to retirement inadequacy. Though it may feel like a gender gap, a take-charge attitude is what's needed on both sides.
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