LESS than half of women are saving enough towards their retirement, with debts and children preventing them from putting funds away for retirement, according to life insurer, Scottish Widows.
Its research found that only 47pc of women are saving adequately for when they give up work, compared with 59pc of men.
Around 26pc of women who could afford to pay into a pension and who need to do so are failing to contribute to one, nearly double the 15pc of men in a similar position who are failing to save.
Women who are saving are also paying in less to a pension than men, with women who belong to defined contribution schemes contributing only £90 a month, compared with men’s £168, while women with private pensions pay in around £184 a month compared with the £331 contributed by men.
Nearly three out of 10 women with a pension who have not yet retired think they need to save more, compared with 24pc of men.
But women are failing to set aside the extra cash, and despite 31pc of women questioned last year saying they intended to save more, only 16pc have actually managed to do so.
One of the main barriers to women saving for retirement is children, with 24pc of women with dependent children saying they had stopped saving into a pension or reduced their contributions, with 12pc stopping saving altogether, compared with 7pc of men.
Only 47pc of women aged between 30 and 50 work full-time, compared with 82pc of men.
Another barrier to women’s saving is debt, with women owing an average of £12,156 in unsecured debt, £1,000 more than men.
The number of women who believe job insecurity and the economic outlook will prevent them from saving has also doubled during the past year, rising from 6pc to 12pc.
Ian Naismith, head of pensions market development at Scottish Widow says: ‘During the economic downturn overall pensions savings have increased, but this is mainly among men and the gender gap has actually widened compared to last year.
‘Although it is encouraging that women have the desire to put more aside for retirement, this doesn’t seem to be translating into actual increased savings particularly and they also have more non-mortgage debt than men.
‘Year-on-year our findings have exposed women as the pensions underdogs and in a climate when people need to be saving more than ever for their futures, it is worrying that women over 50 are actually saving less than previous years.’
‘The word “pension” gets such a bad press that it has caused inertia in many people but the longer you leave it the worse it gets, says Yvonne Goodwin of Leeds based Yvonne Goodwin Wealth Management: ‘A better word for pensions is “retirement savings” because in reality most people’s retirement will be made up of ISAs, SAYE schemes at work and pensions and quite probably part-time or full time work.
‘Any woman who is worried about not having enough money in their pension pot should work backwards – ask yourself: what lifestyle would you like to have when you reach your sixties? And then work out what it will cost to fund that by saving regularly towards your goal. An independent financial advisor will help you achieve this aim.’
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