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 addition, 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).
A new survey, commissioned by online investing firm Scottrade, Inc., shows that women’s savings tactics differ from men’s. More women are finding ways to increase their cash flow during retirement. Forty percent of women have structured their portfolios to include investments that will generate income during retirement, compared to 30 percent of men. And just over half (51 percent) of women say that generating income during retirement is more important to them now than it was one year ago.
In addition, more women have started to save for retirement than men (79 percent of women vs. 74 percent of men), and women are more likely to feel that they are saving enough for retirement (22 percent of women vs. 16 percent of men).
“TIME magazine recently heralded the arrival of the ‘Sheconomy,’ noting that women now make up almost half of the workforce,” said
Kim Wells, chief marketing officer at Scottrade. “Our survey findings support the idea of women’s increasing empowerment, and that women are feeling more secure about managing their retirement investments.”
Women’s attitudes toward spending may be contributing to their positive retirement planning and saving momentum. While more than a quarter (28 percent) of men are concerned about controlling their urge to spend, only 17 percent of women share that concern – and that number is down from 27 percent of women in 2009.
Further, women are more likely to take proactive steps to address financial concerns (94 percent of women vs. 88 percent of men). Although the top five actions taken to reduce financial stress were the same for both genders, considerably more women are taking those actions.
| Action Taken | Women | Men | ||||||||
| Using coupons | 71% | 47% | ||||||||
| Spending less | 69% | 57% | ||||||||
| Comparing prices to find the best deal | 63% | 53% | ||||||||
| Cutting back on purchases like clothing, electronics, etc. | 58% | 41% | ||||||||
| Cutting back on entertainment, such as eating out, movies etc. | 52% | 47% | ||||||||
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