PLANADVISER - September/October 2018 - 22

trendspotting
Women Will Heed Financial Advice
Giving them education, planning tools and similar resources helps
A NEW STUDY from Massachusetts
Mutual Life Insurance Co. suggests
that women express a greater openness
to financial education and to
getting professional financial advice
than do men.
According to the white paper
" Closing the Retirement Gender Gap, "
which analyzes findings from the firm's
" Women's Retirement Risk Study, "
financial advisers are in a strong position
to help women avoid the prospect
of poverty in old age.
" The difficulty that many women
face in preparing for retirement leads
many to anticipate living less comfortably
and running out of money five
years too soon-a stunning development
from a retirement planning
perspective, " says Teresa Hassara, head
of MassMutual's Workplace Solutions.
According to MassMutual, on
average, women retirees and preretirees
expect to spend 25 years postemployment,
compared with men, who
expect to spend 23. However, women
believe their savings will last only 20
years, compared with men, who think
their savings will last 25.
On average, the data show, retired
women anticipate living 30 years in
retirement, while pre-retiree women
anticipate only 21.
The MassMutual study notes
several reasons for why women expect
a more difficult time financially than
do men. These include being less confident
about managing savings and
investments, being uncertain about
optimizing Social Security, feeling a
need to replace a higher percentage of
their pre-retirement income, and being
more concerned about taking investment
risk.
As Hassara points out, there are
many obstacles that make it more
challenging for women to prepare to
retire. She calls this " a reality we need
to overcome if women are to enjoy a
secure retirement.
" MassMutual's study shows that
many women are less comfortable
with financial issues and money in
general, " she adds, " so it's critical for
them to have access to more education,
professional financial advice,
planning tools and other resources to
meet these challenges head on. "
Only about a third of both men and
women said they will need to replace
TALKING POINTS
Which Financial Wellness Topics
Interest Participants Most?
35%
Budgeting
and managing
debt
25%
Understanding the
tools and resources
available
Source: CUNA Mutual Retirement Solutions
21%
Smart
retirement saving
practices
13%
Basic
investment
principles
at least 75% of their pre-retirement
income when they retire-despite the
fact that financial advisers generally
push for income replacement rates
between 70% and
80%.
Forty-one
percent of men and 45% of women
think they need to replace only 50% or
less of their income for retirement.
-John Manganaro
A Very Good Year
Independent registered investment
advisers saw their assets under management
grow 16.2% at the median last year,
up from 9.6% growth in 2016.
Source: Charles Schwab, " RIA Benchmarking Study "
Tossing and Turning
How to save for retirement keeps
18% of Americans up at night.
Source: Bankrate.com
22 | planadviser.com September-October 2018

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PLANADVISER - September/October 2018

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