Women risk financial insecurity in later life due to a culmination of societal, health and financial factors stacked against them, according to a report from Insuring Women's Futures.
Women today are living longer, are better educated and have greater access to career opportunities, but with earnings forming the basis for pension saving, the gender pay gap is a major contributor to women's pension deficit. The average pension wealth of women aged 65 is £35,800 -- just one fifth of men the same age and a mere fraction of their financial needs in retirement irrespective of their end-of-life care costs, which are on average £132,000 for a 65-year-old woman entering a care home in the UK.
The Insuring Women's Futures Market Task Force will take steps to address some of the root causes of the 12 financial 'Perils and Pitfalls' that impact women's financial resilience through life and culminate in an enduring women's pension deficit. For example: young women's financial capability; the motherhood penalty and part-time working; and improving how the insurance and personal finance profession serves women in their 'Moments that Matter'.
The report can be downloaded at: www.insuringwomensfutures.co.uk