Research has uncovered a big difference in the way men and women view retirement.
A study has examined the words people use to describe life after work, and it revealed big differences between men and women. Overwhelmingly, middle-aged and retirement age men used words that reflect the brochure imagery of retirement, such as “rest,” “relax,” and “hobbies.” In contrast, women of the same age described retirement as “freedom,” and “peace,” and used phrases like “time for me.”
According to the study, women are more likely to view retirement as a continuing journey, a life stage that might offer them time to pursue the things that they have deferred until now. The typical male view is that work has ended and playtime has begun. The study was carried out by MIT AgeLab “Describing Life After Career: Demographic Differences in the Language and Imagery of Retirement”, and published in the Journal of Financial Planning.
For many women, caring for children, or aging parents, meant that they stepped in and out of work. In their later years, with children now adults, and caregiving responsibilities having ebbed, going back to work can be seen as something fulfilling – not just about bringing in more money. Work is just as likely to be about doing something that is personally rewarding.
Compared to the conventional male pattern of work, women are used to being more flexible. It’s not unusual for women to have been employed full time, part-time or not at all during their working lives. Anecdotal evidence shows that it is far from unusual for women in their 50s to be entrepreneurs, opening their own businesses. All of this means that those women who are approaching retirement now may have a different view to men, who have often been employed, full time, for 40 years or so by the time they retire.
These differences in working patterns can also make the transition to retirement more difficult for couples. Men often struggle with “moving back home” after they stop work, partly because women are more likely to have an established set of routines and a network of friends to spend time with, and, unsurprisingly, they don’t want to change all of this, just because “he has moved back in”.
Women tend to marry older men and they are likely to live longer. Age UK reports that women are twice as likely as men to outlive their partner; the average age of being widowed is 73 for women, and average life expectancy for a 73 year old woman is 15 years. This may not be the happiest of statistics, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore it. Women should rationally expect a longer retirement than their other half, and it’s logical for a woman’s retirement plan to consider how her life might look after her partner dies.
When we plan retirement for a couple, we make sure that we take account of the views of both members of the couple. We listen to the aspirations of both people and work with them to get their finances into shape to help them achieve what they would like from their life after work.
Philip Wise | philip@sussexretirement.co.uk
Managing Director and Chartered Financial Planner
