Fri, 12 March 2021 | demographics retirement
With Women’s History Month underway, StreetWise, the E*TRADE quarterly tracking study of experienced investors, looked at retirement savings trends among female investors. The survey found female investors are less likely to tap into retirement funds. Fewer than one out of three (30%) women said they have withdrawn from their retirement accounts early, down 10 percentage points from Q1 2020. And 30% of the total population has tapped into retirement funds early, down just 3 percentage points from last year.
The study also found that more women are contributing to their retirement accounts. Contributing more to a retirement account ranked as the top action female investors took (36%), followed by paying down personal debt (27%)—compared to 34% and 23% of the total population, respectively.
Though barriers to retirement loom large. Among female investors, the top barrier to saving for retirement is health care costs (47%), followed by rent or mortgage (41%). And the top reason women withdrew early from their retirement funds was for a medical emergency (13%). Paying for education costs (10%) or spending on herself or her family (10%) closely followed.
“Amid an incredibly disruptive year, it’s encouraging to see female investors thinking long-term and putting more away for their future selves,” said Deniz Ozgenc, Executive Director of Financial Product Management at E*TRADE Financial. “The pandemic has taken a major toll on us all, so it’s no small feat to prioritize retirement and rebound from the challenges this year brought on. But if the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected—and putting a little away now can help ease the burden when times get tough.”
Source: E*TRADE