Experts Urge Planning For Retirement Risks

The majority of women in the country may not be saving enough income for their retirement and will not be able to support themselves over their lifetime. Typically, women receive lower wages than men and spend less time in the workplace when raising families, which can equate to less retirement savings. As many as 60 percent of surveyed women (prea??retirees) are concerned that they may deplete their savings during retirement, leaving Social Security as their only financial income, according to a new report, Impact of Retirement Risk on Women, published by the Society of Actuaries (SOA) and sponsored by the Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER).
Impact of Retirement Risk on Women (based on findings from SOA's Risks and Process of Retirement survey and focus group study) provides unique insight into post-retirement risks and resources available to help women plan and manage for reliable and sufficient retirement income. Women are more likely than men to be widowed, divorced or separated which can lead to a diminished income, and on average have significantly lower pension and Social Security benefits than men.
"Women today need to develop plans to guarantee lifetime income that can sustain their future comfort and wella??being. With rising healthcare costs, fewer employera??provided pensions, and a growing shift in responsibility for retirement preparation, women need a sensible plan to ensure a secure retirement," said Emily Kessler, Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, SOA Retirement System Solutions. "Women need to know their retirement risks and how to protect themselves."

Unfortunately, the planning phase is easier said than done. One can study all the different plans offered by a multitude of sources, Banks, Trusts, Insurance Companies etca?| But, the majority always hits the wall when the analysis of their limited current revenues versus the minimum funds required to maintain their current lifestyle shows that there is very little left for a??SAVINGSa??.

Also, there are more than just revenues involved in being able to build up savings for retirement. Usually, there is one main source of revenues called the a??joba??. To increase household revenues, you usually are on the lookout for a better paying job, in addition, you can take up an additional job, other member of the family can get a job or you can start up a home based business. All of these will stress one important resource - TIME. Time is limited and usually spread out between Earning revenues (job, overtime, home businessa?|), Personal welfare (eating, healthcare, household maintenancea?|), Family & family needs and Rest & Recreation. It is easy to see that to assign additional time to a??Earning revenuesa?? means cutting out time in other activities.

You can sell your time for a fix hourly wage (job1, job2 and more) and it will remain that way through your working life, one hour for so many dollars. Your time available for other activities - Family, Rest & Recreation - will remain limited by the needs for more revenues. However, by working at your own business, you may startup with low revenue per hour, but time assigned to business development will generally mean that you will gain more leverage and therefore generate higher revenues per time units. Eventually, you may well be able to reduce the overall time resource assigned to earning revenues and reassign it to the other elements.

This result can be fantastic, you can save for your retirement and you have more time for the family. Imagine that you can drive the kids to school everyday and you can maintain a comfortable lifestyle as you have time to see your family grow up.