Women need to put away more money for retirement than men

The U.S. is facing a massive retirement crisis, with a whopping $13 trillion retirement savings shortfall.

The retirement savings crisis is even more severe for women since they face a gender-pay gap and will likely live longer.

That means women need to be saving more than men. The goal should be 8 to 10-times an annual salary.

“[That’s] what you need if you want to spend 90% of your pre-retirement levels annually. It’s a bit more than you hear at the majority of investment firms, but we want you to retire like a boss — more travel, more fun,” says Sallie Krawcheck, the CEO of women-led digital investing platform Ellevest on a new episode of MAKERS Money. “And, since we women live longer on average it’s better to have a bigger cushion. Yes, in this case, bigger is better.”

On the fourth episode of MAKERS Money, Krawcheck presents steps that women can take to increase their likelihood of having more money in retirement, including investing in a diversified portfolio and asking for a salary increase.

On the show, she’s joined by Tanya Van Court, the CEO of Goalsetter, an online saving and gifting platform to help kids save. According to Van Court, women need to put themselves in a position for a raise.

“[Women] need to have those conversations about how much they want to make, but not only how much they want to make, but what the clear expectations are that will get them to that point to be deemed successful,” says Van Court.

“I completely agree,” says Krawcheck.

Krawcheck spent nearly 30 years on Wall Street, holding high-level positions including CEO of sell-side research firm Sanford Bernstein, CEO of Smith Barney, CFO of Citigroup, and president of global wealth and investment management at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Last month, feminist media brand MAKERS and Yahoo Finance launched “MAKERS Money,” a weekly show hosted by Krawcheck that features advice for women from top female financial experts.

—
(Editing by Julia La Roche)