What Women Fear after 50

[Mmm Rrr]

Well fear may be the first step to motivate some of them to start saving...

Barbara Hannah Grufferman: Life After 50: Women's Worst Fear After 50? It's Not What You Think

 

[chris2008]

Thank god I have nothing to fear for, except health issues that are beyond my control.
I picked up the habit of saving pretty early in life and have continuously been employed.
Sometimes when friends and colleagues talk about their latest purchases I wonder how they see us: we do not buy often but when we buy it is a quality item. Thus we keep our stuff for ages.
ER target is 2012, when DH is 60 and I will be 53.

"The cinderelly complex" by Colette Dowling is on the unconscious desire of women to be taken care of that could be undermining their responsible money management.

 

[donheff]

No surprise there -- they are afraid of ending up destitute due to loss of income and big insurance bills. Here is the answer according to the article:

"What's the solution? Help women over 50 get and keep jobs, and give them access to affordable health care so that they can continue to have productive lives for as long as they wish."

Good luck with that what with the attitudes of employers toward older workers and the planned demise of Medicare.

 

[rescueme]

DW (at age 63 - same as me) has always had the "bag lady syndrome", due to her family upbringing and the tough times we had (financially) in our early marriage.

It's a bit like a dogs that I/DW have rescued over the years (so my user name, and my avatar). Some have been "broken" (both physically and mentally) and they don't forget the time that they were abused.

I don't think that any woman (or man - speaking for myself) can let go the fear of what we have gone through in life (good or bad) that does not affect our respective futures...

Heck, I've been trying to get DW to retire (and release her daily tension, brought on by her j*b), but she can't quite accept that she needs not put up with her "challenges" any more (of course, she would be exchanging one challenge - her j*b, with being with me all day, since I've been retired for four years).

 

[Nords]

Well fear may be the first step to motivate some of them to start saving...

Gee, let's whack all the men's salaries by 20-30% and see if they develop the same fear. Then let's try the same experiment by race, religion, political affiliation, and favorite sports team. I bet the results are the same.

I always thought the "bag lady with cats" syndrome reflected a fear of losing one's mental acuity and social network, not money.

Here are some other thoughts on genders in retirement. Turns out that the women may be better at ER than the guys.
For the Secret to a Happy Retirement Ask a Woman - Retirement: A Full-Time Job
What Men Can Learn from Women About Retirement - On Retirement (usnews.com)

 

[haha]

The disturbing thing is that financial destitution could end up being more than just a fear for far too many women in this country; it could become a fact. In a recent interview, Ken Robbins, a geriatric psychiatrist at the University of Wisconsin said, "Men tend to be more financially secure, make more money, and have bigger pensions and Social Security checks. Widows are often left with dramatically less money."

If she is a widow, and not a lifelong single, her SS check is going to be identical to that of her late husband. And often, she will also be getting some part up to 100% of whatever pension he might have had too, as well as survivor health benefits, as well as whatever pension and benefits she has earned on her own.

When almost all women stayed home and raised children, or had lightweight jobs in order to be available for child-oriented tasks, much of this made sense. But today this is rarely the situation. If a woman makes less money than her husband or less than some guy down the block to whom she is not married, it may not be because she is sole caregiver for children, of which she may well have none anyway. Some men make more money than other men, some women make more money than other women and more than some men.

Wow! Imagine that!

Ha

 

[bikeknit]

I fear a major illness - for my husband or myself - that wipes out our savings. And finding the right level of insurance to protect against such an eventuality without costing so much that the premiums do the same thing to our nest egg.

 

[bbbamI]

Thank you for posting the article.

Hopefully young women on this forum will read this article and change their way of thinking...and be able to avoid these fears as they make a plan for their future.