Q: When is 15% savings not enough to retire?

A: When you are a woman.

Consider this:

As a woman, you are more likely to

1. Be out of the workforce to take care of children or parents for 1-3 years on average
2. Be living longer than  your husband
3. Be earning less than men in comparable jobs – the famous 23% wage gap where women earn only 77cents for every $ earned by men
4. Be working in a part-time/non-profit job with no/minimal retirement benefits

So the next time you look at an online retirement savings calculator that says you should save 15% if you are below 30 years of age, please ADD ATLEAST 1% MORE for each of the points above that apply to you. Since 2 & 3 apply to nearly all women, you should be looking to save at least 17% of pre-tax income.

Then we come to the other half of retirement savings – investment. Most women have one or both of these two problems while investing:

1. Not understanding or knowing the latest options/information available – this can range from not knowing that maximizing a Roth IRA is better than funding your regular IRA all the way to not knowing the latest interest rates for savings accounts.
2. Not taking enough risk – A majority of women have their money in “safe” investments like CDs that do not maximize returns over the long term unlike stocks.

If you are currently not investing in stocks either because you do not understand them or because you are afraid, ADD ANOTHER 1%. Then sit down and start educating yourself on investing for the long-term!!

And the proof that you need to save more is right here:

Google search of “savings women” – check out how the first article is for women to save more. Of the top 10 links, 6 are exhorting women to save more. And “Did you mean to search for” shows a very helpful “savings when“. And the kicker – 4 links are advertising products. Now when does shopping for stuff help you save money? The answer: NEVER.

Google search of “savings men” -  the first article is about shopping. Of the top 10 search results, 3 again talk about how women trail men in savings.

The bottomline: Everyone agrees that women need to save more than they currently are and learn about investing for the long-term. And help is right here for you to start