Lita is the Coordinator of Facilities Management at The Emory Clinic in Atlanta, Georgia, the clinical arm of Emory University's Medical School. Lita earned her MBA from Emory's Goizueta Business School. Lita enjoys writing, financial planning, scuba diving, science fiction, and is an avid photographer certified for underwater photography. She serves as a Teaching Assistant in Ziff Davis University's Investing on the Web class and writes Beyond the Bell, a weekly column on long-term investment strategies. Lita has also worked as a daily newspaper reporter, magazine editor, and press secretary in the U.S. Congress.
Below is Lita's first article:
Women as New Potential Targets Face Unique Investment Challenges By Lita Epstein
Women are now being seen as potential targets by financial companies as the trend toward greater equity investment by women is becoming apparent. Women have traditionally been more conservative about their investment strategies or they have not had the money to invest. As more women join the workforce at higher levels of pay, this is gradually changing.
Here are the facts:
- Woman's life expectancy is 78.3 years, man's is 71.5. Therefore women need a larger nest egg to maintain income through retirement.
- Women earn less money than men - women earn 72 cents for every dollar earned by men.
- In 1993, the average social security benefit for a woman was 25% lower than the average man's.
- Women change jobs more frequently than men - usually to relocate for spouse's employment or to raise a family.
- Women tend to have jobs with fewer retirement benefits and when they do have benefits they tend to receive lower retirement benefits than men.
- No-fault divorce has resulted in a 250% increase in divorces from 1960 to 1980 leaving a large number of women and children in poverty.
- Spousal protection for a portion of a husband's retirement package is based on state law. Women in some states have no rights to their husband's 401K funds.
Given these facts, the studies regarding the historical investment habits of women raise many questions about their retirement futures. A 1996 Oppenheimer company report found that 66% of women versus 44% of men find investing is too complicated. Oppenheimer also found that 30% to 40% of women did not start investing until they were widowed, according to Fidelity. Merrill Lynch's 1997 financial planning survey found that only 39% of women participate in employer-sponsored 401K plans.
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