Let's look at their biological clock.It's a fact:
Women live five to ten years longer than men!
The average age for a woman to be widowed is 55. In fact, most widows now living in poverty were not poor before their husbands died.
Given this biological fact a woman needs a much larger "nest egg," yet there are many things that get in her way. Think of their lives:
- They move in and out of the workforce to raise a family.
- They find that they need to move for their husband's career, putting their own careers in jeopardy.
What do these obstacles do to a woman's financial future? Well the average woman will spend many years away from the workforce, while a man spends a lot less years away. This all adds up to retirement benefits that will equal only to a part of her male counterparts.
Even though they need larger "nest eggs," many women tend to be more conservative investors.
In fact the majority of the elderly poor are women!
Because of all of the above, women should be investing differently. They must review their personal goals, understand their risk tolerance levels, and assess their time horizon for when they will need the money.
Once that's done, it's time to learn all that they can to make wise investment decisions, and start investing as people who are afraid to take risks, or as people who plan to leave the workforce for a few years, or as people who thought their spouses would be there to help support them in their old age but aren't.
What can they do to improve their chances of living a financially healthy life?
1. Start saving as soon as possible and often for their retirement.
2. They must not be afraid of making investment mistakes... They must learn from them!
3. They have to take some risk in their portfolio, but continue to do that carefully with good research to back up their choices, and
4. They must arise and take full charge of their own financial future!
