| Sargent & Lundy Savings Investment Plan |
| BARRIERS FACING WOMEN IN RETIREMENT |
| The following excerpts are from an article in the June
1, 1998 issue of "Pensions & Investments". The opinions of
the author, Kathy Catrambone, may or may not reflect those of the SIP Committee.
The results of two new studies show the problems women face in their desire to be financially comfortable in their retirement years. One study says that all the anxieties and inadequacies girls feel in math class stay with them into womanhood and affect their retirement investment decisions. This is part of the findings of The Dreyfus Corp.'s latest study comparing women's and men's attitudes about investing. The other study, by the Older Women's League, Washington, says that 75% of American women 65 and older do not receive pensions, despite the increasing presence of women in the work force. The study found fewer women than men are comfortable with math and investing. Eighty percent of female respondents claim to be comfortable working with numbers and math problems, whereas 91% of men claim the same. "Women are identifying a number of significant barriers to investing and are not investing as actively as men," said Christopher M. Condron, president and chief executive officer of The Dreyfus Corp. and president and chief operating officer of Mellon Bank NA. Significantly more female than male respondents cited barriers to retirement planning. Among the most common barriers the women listed were: lack of money (53%), lack of knowledge about investing (48%) and lack of time (45%). Common barriers male respondents listed were: lack of money (43%, lack of time (39%) and uncertainty about future income (31%). Seventy percent of men and 58% of women said investments are long term and that they would leave their selections alone if the stock market were to experience a correction of 20% or greater. Women surveyed felt more anxious about market fluctuations, with 44% saying the fluctuations make them nervous, compared with 33% of men. The study's female respondents are less likely than men to take risk in investments, and tend to be more anxious about the investments they do own. Sixty-three percent of female respondents consider only safe and guaranteed investments, compared with 41% of males surveyed. Men have significantly larger portfolios than do women, the survey found. The median value of the savings and investments of male respondents was $280,000, for female respondents the median was $179,000. Eighty-one percent of male respondents and 56% of female respondents are married. The Older Women's League's report shows that women who do receive pensions typically get less than men receive - $4,200 a year, compared with $7,800 for men - according to the group, which represents middle-aged and older women. The report shows 52% of working women are not covered by employer-sponsored pension plans, although the gap in coverage between women and men is shrinking, in part because coverage for working men has fallen in the past two decades. The data were for 1994, the most recent available. The report shows that women's pension coverage has shot up from 38% in 1972 and 48% in 1993, while only 51% of working men had pension coverage in 1993, down from 54% in 1972. Women making $75,000 and more put away 8.1% of their paychecks for their old age, compared with 6.1% for men in the same salary bracket. "What this vividly illustrates is that women do think about retirement. They want to save, and do so when they can. However, today's retirement system was created for a different work and family structure" and needs to be updated, said Deborah Briceland-Betts, the group's executive director. The report urges lawmakers to change laws so workers vest faster; to make it easier for employees to take their retirement savings from job to job; and extend pension coverage for part-time or temporary workers. |
This page updated on 6/22/98