Women more likely than men to live in poverty during retirement

During their working years, women tend to earn less than men, and when they retire, they're more likely to live in poverty.

The National Institute on Retirement Security, a not-for-profit research center, reports that women are 80 percent more likely than men to be impoverished at age 65 and older. Women ages 75 to 79 are three times more likely.

While experts cite a pay gap as a major cause for retirement insecurity, other factors play a role, from raising children, to caring for elderly family members, to the fact that women typically live longer than men.

"Many times, however, it can be a result of the family not being protected from unforeseen events, such as a husband passing away, divorce or job loss," says Tyler Cuba of Cuba Financial Group in Cape Girardeau. "The loss of income or assets as a result of one of these events can be a major setback to the retirement for women, especially if they are more dependent on the husband's income."

To avoid such pitfalls, Cuba says women should assess what things are most important to them, along with their degree of control over those things.

"By addressing the things that score the highest in terms of importance and control, they can mitigate much of the risk they face in retirement today," he says.

Although wages often can't be controlled, lifestyle and savings can. So can preparing for other eventualities, such as the death of a significant other.

"The unfortunate passing of a spouse may be out of one's control, but having adequate life insurance is not," Cuba says.

John Wolpers, a financial planner/practitioner at Ameriprise Financial Services in Cape Girardeau, says planning as early as possible is crucial, but so is being aware of personal finances.

Often, women are left adrift when a spouse dies who handled all the investing, banking and bill-paying in the household.

"So they're starting at ground zero, dealing with death and dealing with finances they never have (before)," he says.

He suggests seeking professional advice at least once, and getting help with a solid financial plan.

"The more often you meet, the more prepared you are," he says.

Joan Entmacher, vice president for family economic security at the National Women's Law Center, says "the solution to the retirement (funding) crisis starts with the earnings and wage gap."

That gap narrowed between the 1970s and 1990s, but stopped shrinking in 2001. Women earn about 76 cents to 79 cents on the dollar, compared with men.

Women are more likely to report that Social Security is the biggest source of income -- 50 percent to 38 percent for men, according to a recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Women are 14 percentage points less likely to say they will receive a pension.

Entmacher says women are more likely to take on caregiving responsibilities, which increases the likelihood they will end up working part-time jobs, often for lower wages, and without benefits such as pensions, sick leave and health care.

"The bulk of stay-at-home moms are not these high-income, well-educated women that you read about," she says.

Over a 40-year career, the pay gap between men and women adds up to an average of $430,480, according to the Census Bureau.

In addition to earning less, women are much more likely to be single parents, putting additional economic strains on them. In 2013, almost 83 percent of custodial parents were mothers, according to the census.

Starting with the Johnson administration's "War on Poverty" in 1964, and the creation of safety-net programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, poverty rates among men and women have been falling steadily.

In 1966, the percentage of women over 65 living below the federal poverty line stood at 32 percent, compared with 12.1 percent in 2014. For men over 65, the numbers are 23.5 percent and 7.4 percent, respectively.

Yet some analysts say the poverty rate is a poor gauge to assess the quality of life for aging seniors.

"The poverty rate is a deceptive number; it doesn't reflect the money they (men and women) need to actually exist," says Jennifer Brown, manager of research at the National Institute on Retirement Security.

Brown says increasing life spans mean a woman in the United States today will live five years longer than the average man, and about four years longer than her grandmother.

"Those increases in longevity come with huge increases in medical costs," Brown says. "Especially if you're talking about things like long-term care or treatment for mental disabilities such as dementia and Alzheimer's."

Medicare does not cover long-term care. To get some subsidized coverage, seniors would need to spend down their assets to qualify for Medicaid or have a long-term care insurance policy.

In 2016, the census poverty threshold for a single person is $11,880. According to UCLA's Elder Index, a measure of the cost for housing, food, transport and health care for a 65-year-old renter shows that the base cost for these needs is $24,024 and growing.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.