Poverty Happens When Women Plan Poorly for a Healthy Retirement

WOMEN SHOULD HAVE A RETIREMENT FOCUS TOO

Too many women do not have a retirement focus. Women are not saving enough because of 5 major reasons. In my opinion, the main reason is too much love:

1. Love for their husband
2. Love for their kids
3. Love of their parents
4. Love for their home
5. Love for their sanity (which is often threatened by overwork at home)

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with too much family love, but it can make you poor if it is not put in proper perspective. There should be a retirement focus that includes love for self. Also, know your retirement eligibility early, then you can work towards retiring. The good news is, there are always retirement solutions at any stage, but be prepared to work on them.

Most women get married at some time in their lives, many have kids. And now with modern medicine, many elderly people are living longer lives. What does this have to do with women, love, and poverty?

Women are taught to be at-home caregivers early on, and this takes away from a retirement focus.

There are retirement solutions, no matter when you start
-Lois

A RETIREMENT FOCUS SHOULD INCLUDE – HOW TO RETIRE WITH SOLID FUNDS

Women are taught to clean up the house, cook, and babysit much more than their brothers. This could be the reason, but most cultural issues are complex, so let’s just say this is one of the reasons. But, another big reason is that women are still the ones to get pregnant and have responsibility for the home and children.

Pregnancy alone can cause issues with extended health complications, job loss, or children who need extended care. What women are not taught is what a retirement focus is, and how to retire in a timely manner with enough to live off. This includes whether she ends up as widowed, divorced, or happily married.

Because of the caregiver background women are raised in conjunction with their responsibility to children, housekeeping, and cleaning. Women are more likely to take extended time off work. Some women never work at all – this can cause many problems in the “not so perfect” future.

LEARNING A RETIREMENT ELIGIBILITY EARLY WILL ALLOW A WOMAN TO RETIRE

If there is a divorce, which about 70% of Americans divorce or separate, women are usually left with no income. Sometimes with little income from a divorce settlement, or little income from an entry-level job. Therefore, in the struggle to just exist, women don’t save enough money for retirement.

Learn to calculate social security benefits or pension income whether a woman ends up in divorce, is a widow, or is still married. No one knows what the outcome will be in life. Most divorced women never thought they would end up that way. When retirement eligibility is calculated every two to four years a woman will know approximately what she will get at retirement.

The moral of the story is that girls should be taught to go to school, and women should do a significant amount of earned income work before they stay home to take care of the kids, home, or elderly parents. If they can’t do the work before, it should be done afterward, a lot of work, so they can save money for retirement. It is nice to think we can absolutely depend on others for our survival, but it doesn’t always happen that way.

THERE ARE MANY RETIREMENT SOLUTIONS

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, women are 50% more likely to have no retirement than men.  When women do work, they only collect about 50% of the retirement men do, according to the bureau. When women know their retirement eligibility, they can find retirement solutions if they fall short.

Some women divorce after raising kids and some only get separated. Either way, if they never worked or only worked part-time occasionally, the subsequent income is usually very low.

A woman who gets divorced in her elder years and does not negotiate a good divorce package can end up with no income or very low income. Social security has many different formulas, so make sure you check with social security for your eligibility at retirement. You could be eligible for a spouse’s social security even though it was not settled at divorce.

According to social security, the amount of money a woman will get at retirement should be supplemented with an additional income. That income can include an IRA or individual retirement account. Retirement solutions can include going back to school late, getting a higher-paying job, working two jobs, or aggressively funding a supplemental retirement account.

Unfortunately, some women are still being taught that working is not important as long as their husband makes good money and they have kids.

Every woman should have a retirement focus, to retire someday
-Lois

WORKING AND SAVING FOR RETIREMENT ARE CRUCIAL

Working early and saving for retirement early is the only guarantee that a mother will have retirement money in retirement. If not figure out retirement solutions that will give you a decent income. See if you qualify for part of a spouse’s pension or social security.

The rule of law in most states is that a woman gets half of a husband’s retirement at divorce if married for between 11 to 20 years. But, the woman must ask for it. If she gets it sometimes it will be enough to live off during divorce, sometimes it will not. The important issues are women should have a retirement focus as men do, they should always know their retirement eligibility and understand retirement solutions.

Another problem women have is not taking simple investing seriously. Men invest money more aggressively than women. This is another reason men end up with more money than women.

I have intentionally shared my years of investing experience with my readers. There are many simple mutual funds, that over time will make a big difference in your financial status. Look at these mutual funds for long-term growth and low risk. Any s&p 500 index fund, they are the same at every company. There are also other index funds. Figure out your retirement prospects here.