The retirement conundrum of how much money is enough is an ongoing battle that impacts both men and women, but one area where men seem to be winning out is retirement confidence, according to EBRI’s 2011 Retirement Confidence Survey
According to the survey, men are more likely than women to say they are very confident that they will have saved enough to live comfortably throughout retirement and are very confident about having enough money to take care of basic expenses and medical costs.
While confidence is part of the equation when saving for retirement, having a realistic idea of how much is needed in retirement is also key. Women seem to lose out in this arena as well, with 35% of women surveyed believing they will need less than $250,000 for retirement, compared to 26% of men, despite the fact they live longer and tend to have higher healthcare costs. In addition, women (12%) are more likely than men (5%) to say they do not know how much they will need to save. Men more often say they need to accumulate $1 million or more for retirement, according to EBRI.
When it comes to saving for retirement gender doesn’t seem to have a big impact. Men and women are equally likely to say they have saved for retirement and are currently saving for retirement. Women are statistically as likely as men to have a job that offers a work place retirement savings plan and to contribute to it. Men and women are just as likely to say they have an individual retirement account or roll over IRA.
Both men and women plan to retire at 65, though men are more likely to say they will never retire. In the last year, both men and women are equally likely to have changed their expected retirement age, and most now say they plan to retire at an older age than before.
