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Fast Facts: WOMEN & THE RETIREMENT SAVINGS DISPARITY

FACT: Women have 38% less money saved for retirement than men, on average, ($108,000 vs. $149,000), according to an ING U.S. report released earlier this year. FACT: The challenges keeping many women from accruing adequate retirement savings include: Women have lower lifetime earnings. Women earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, according to the Womens Institute for a Secure Retirement. A 25-year-old woman with a college degree will make about $523,000 less in wages over her lifetime compared to a man with a college degree. Women take more time out of the workforce to care for family members. Women are in the workforce for 12 years less than men, on average, primarily because they spent more time out of the workforce caring for family members, according to the Government Accountability Office. Women live longer and outlive their spouses. According to the Government Accountability Office, 70% of women age 85 and over are widowed compared to only 24% of men age 85 and over. Women set less money aside for retirement. Men tend to contribute higher percentages of pay to employer retirement savings plans, according to ING U.S. Women have planned for retirement less. While nearly half of all men (49%) have calculated how much they need for retirement, only 36% of women have calculated their retirement needs, according to ING U.S.

FACT: In the face of these challenges, financial services companies are offering innovative products and services to help women plan for a secure retirement. Roundtable member company efforts include: Citi provides Women & Co., a free service to get women thinking and talking about personal finance by providing a wide variety of engaging content, commentary and resources to help women plan for retirement. According to a recent survey of professional women conducted by Citi with LinkedIn, saving for retirement was the #1 financial concern for women over 35. Comerica helps women plan successfully for retirement using comprehensive and detailed wealth/financial plans. These plans include a cash flow analysis, which helps clients effectively allocate the funds needed for retirement.

ING U.S.s support staff and advisors are trained to assist with womens unique retirement planning needs. ING Financial Partners, a network of 2,500 financial professionals including 450 female advisors, offers seminars designed to help educate and encourage women to be more proactive in their planning and saving. In 2013, KeyBank will launch quarterly local seminars focused on women's needs including retirement planning, education planning, business succession planning and other topics. The Principal Financial Group offers resources through its website to help educate women about specific retirement savings strategies for their unique needs. Raymond James Financial has tools and resources to make retirement planning more engaging, collaborative, and easy-to-understand. This is critical to ensuring women understand the decisions, trade-offs and opportunities they have in retirement. Regions works with women one-on-one through wealth advisors and outreach through women's networking organizations and seminars across their footprint. State Farm supports the research activities of the State Farm Center for Women and Financial Services at The American College and is also building awareness through education with its Make it Possible financial workshops. The Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies (The Center) focuses much of its annual research on women. The Center offers actionable insights and recommendations to help women of all ages to start talking about retirement planning and improve their retirement outlooks. Wells Fargo Retirement offers Beyond Today, a website with tools and checklists for women at different ages and stages. From the site, there is also a blog with stories from celebrity bloggers and women at Wells Fargo with perspectives on budgeting/organization, reinvention and planning. Wells is also hosting a series of conversations with More Magazine and experts on retirement planning in a live webcast. Western & Southern Financial Group offers a variety of products to assist women in saving for retirement, including life insurance, mutual funds, and deferred annuities. The number one way women and men can increase their retirement security is by SAVING EARLY. The Roundtable published a white paper earlier this year, Saving Early: The Road to a Secure Retirement, showing how individuals can put the power of compound interest to work in their favor if they start saving early.

The Roundtable delivers Fast Facts each week to select opinion leaders in the financial services industry, Congress, and media. View all previous Fast Facts at www.RoundtableResearch.org

Financial Services HOTLINE: If you have questions, call Abby McCloskey, Director of Research, at 202-589-2531 or Scott Talbott, Senior Vice President of Public Policy, at 202-289-4322. Learn more about the financial services industry at www.OurFinancialFuture.com.