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Retirement News
Women Report More Emotional Distress About
Retirement Than Do Men
Adults more optimistic about retirement planning
but not doing it
 April 3, 2007 When it comes to retirement
planning, women worry more than men about financial preparedness, but
men nor women show signs of being prepared, according to respondents to
Wachovia's latest Retirement Fitness Survey.
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"This year's survey shows that while women
prioritize specific financial goals - like paying for college or
managing the family's daily finances - they aren't necessarily taking
specific steps toward achieving their long-term financial goals," said
Robert L. Reid, president of Wachovia's Retirement and Investment
Products Group.
"Women overall are more likely than men to feel
overwhelmed and distressed when faced with retirement planning."
More than half of the women surveyed, 58 percent,
said they feel worried when thinking about preparing financially for
retirement, and 61 percent of women said they feel uncertainty.
Thirty-nine percent of married women report not
knowing how much they have saved for retirement - significantly more
than unmarried women, 27 percent.
Only 20 percent of married men and 28 percent of
unmarried men do not know their total retirement savings.
Fewer women than men - 70 percent of women as
opposed to 78 percent of men - have employer-sponsored defined
contribution plans available to them.
And while there are no gender differences in
contributions to plans among those who have them, women's balances tend
to be smaller because they are more likely at some point to be out of
the full-time workforce to care for children and older parents. In
addition, women live longer and healthcare costs for those extended
years continue to soar.
To better prepare for retirement, women reported
that they would like additional coaching, more information and education
about investing, and a better understanding of their expenses and where
they can cut back.
The survey indicated that both men and women could
be doing more to prepare for retirement; only one in eight consumers has
a detailed plan of how much they will need to save for retirement and
how to get there.
"The troubling thing is that men and women alike
are failing to contribute to employer-sponsored defined contribution
plans and individual retirement accounts," added Reid.
"For consumers to have enough money in retirement,
they are going to have to commit to contributing to all available
retirement vehicles."
Wachovia says it seeks to provide financial
services to women in a number of ways:
● Wachovia's new retirement site, Women and
Lifetime Retirement Planning with Wachovia (http://www.wachovia.com/women),
is designed to assist women as they plan for retirement.
● Wachovia provides Free Retirement Consultation
at any of its 3,400 financial centers or by calling the Retirement
Resource Center at 866-588-9606. The service includes Lifetime
Retirement Planning with Wachovia, an age-based look at the steps women
can take to prepare themselves for retirement.
● Wachovia and Wachovia Securities sponsor
women's conferences and events across the nation, providing
informational, educational and networking opportunities with sessions
that focus on money management and retirement.
● Wachovia Securities is providing gender
training for Financial Advisors and Licensed Financial Specialists to
help them better communicate with and meet the unique needs of women, in
part through the use of Envision, the brokerage firm's life goals and
investment planning tool.
● Wachovia has developed an interactive eMagazine
to help clients with retirement planning. The eMagazine (http://www.wachoviaretirementguide.com/)
is a Web-based tool for customers to access for retirement solutions.
This is the third year that Wachovia has conducted
the Retirement Fitness Survey, which monitors trends within four
categories that are based on emotional and financial preparedness for
retirement. A short assessment is available at
http://www.wachovia.com/retirementfitness to help individuals
determine their category.
Fitness categories, specific survey data and
trended data are available upon request from Wachovia.
Editor's Notes About Source:
The Wachovia Retirement Fitness Survey was
conducted in late 2006 by Evanston, Ill.-based Richard Day Research,
Inc. (RDR) and included a special module and analytical focus on women's
issues. The results are based on online interviews with 2,110
individuals, ages 35-64, with household income or household investable
assets greater than $75,000. This replicates all methods used in 2004
and 2005.
About Retirement and Investment Products Group
The Retirement and Investment Products Group,
with more than $154 billion in IRA assets and more than $100 billion in
defined benefit and defined contribution assets for over 2.1 million
participants, consists of retirement products and services for retail
and institutional customers. The Retirement and Investment Products
Group is a division of Wachovia's Capital Management Group, which also
includes Wachovia Securities retail brokerage business, Evergreen
Investments asset management business and the Securities Lending
business.
About Wachovia Corporation
Wachovia Corporation (NYSE:WB)
is one of the nation's largest diversified financial services companies,
providing a broad range of retail banking and brokerage, asset and
wealth management, and corporate and investment banking products and
services. Wachovia has retail and commercial banking operations in 21
states with 3,375 retail banking offices from Connecticut to Florida and
west to Texas and California. In addition, two core businesses operate
under the Wachovia Securities brand name: retail brokerage with 750
offices in 47 states and service affiliate offices in Latin America, and
corporate and investment banking serving clients in selected corporate
and institutional sectors globally. Other nationwide businesses include
mortgage lending in all 50 states and auto finance covering 46 states.
Globally, Wachovia serves clients through more than 40 international
offices. Online banking is available at wachovia.com; online brokerage
products and services at wachoviasec.com, and investment products and
services at evergreeninvestments.com. At December 31, 2006, Wachovia had
assets of $707 billion and market capitalization of $108 billion.
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