Imagine how much easier it would be to manage your finances if change were not an ever-present dynamic. Of course, change is a fact of life – and life would be pretty boring without it! But change can certainly make long-term financial management difficult. Without insight into the future and what might transpire, planning presents plenty of challenges.
“Change is a fact of life – and life would be pretty boring without it! But change can certainly make long-term financial management difficult.”
Life expectancy is one of the many unpredictable variables at play. My mother-in-law just turned 100 – amazing! She never expected to live that long, and even if she did, how could she or anyone else effectively plan for the income needed to last all of those years? Meanwhile, my husband’s sister passed away unexpectedly in her early 60s – a reminder that trying to anticipate our own mortality based on that of our immediate family members is pretty much futile.
Less profound changes can also have a major impact on our financial situation. For many years, my husband was the main source of income in our family. Due to changes in the economy, a few years ago I suddenly became the top breadwinner.
This change prompted me to wonder, were we saving enough for retirement? We certainly were at one time, but now I had to take a hard look at our situation. And I realized that I really wasn’t sure if we were still on track to reach our goals.
As a female Baby Boomer, I’ll admit that this realization was a little scary. We all see the statistics on the number of Baby Boomers retiring every day – shouldn’t I be ready to join that movement any day now? But I quickly discovered I was not alone in my fears. Talking with my close friends, I was amazed to find that many of us were in the same boat. Of course, when you consider the many unique challenges women face in retirement planning, it’s not surprising that my female friends shared my same fears and difficulties.
In this article, Allison Pearson discusses some of those challenges, shares some interesting findings about women and investing, and offers some advice for how both women and men can work to improve their retirement preparedness.