Women Have 1/3 the Savings as Men.
One of the alarming things that continues to show up is a savings disparity across different demographics in America. Most of us can intuit some aspect of this but the data keeps reinforcing economic issues that require strong consideration.
For example, earlier this year Prudential Financial conducted a brief survey of people ages 55-75 that revealed that women have one-third the amount of savings as men. Sparking Caroline Feeney, CEO of Prudential's U.S. Businesses, to say "Women have a more challenging time saving for retirement,"
This is a blunt but true statement. From an ethics standpoint I have a growing concern for this issue for several reasons. First women outlive men so they will require more resources. Second, the majority of people in nursing homes and care facilities are women. Third, is that they are often at a social disadvantage when it comes to earning during their life. It can be everything from inequities in pay, familial reasons and the environment for single women versus single men.
All of those things lead right back to the start of this brief article. Women have less saved than men. It is not as simple as encouraging saving more - nothing in our economy can ever be that reductionist. We must make social, moral and economic structures that do not lead to oversights like this.
The same can be applied to other demographics of ethnicity, education level and income earning. A white, highly educated, high earning male has way more resources than say a white male with a high school diploma that does not command a 6-figure salary. And so on.
As you go up the “resource hierarchy,” as I call it, you are exponentially able to have and earn more, but some of these qualifiers should not be part of the equation and need to change.
Here is a link to the original article.
As always, if you come across a financially related article you’d like to send my way please do!
Best place to send them is to me.
More next time!
Jonathan