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How Retirement Readiness Varies by Gender and Family Status: A Retirement Savings Shortfall Assessment of Gen Xers

Measuring retirement security — or retirement income adequacy — is an extremely important topic. In recent years, there has been an increasing emphasis on the retirement income adequacy of widows and single women.

31. januar 2019

EBRI’s Retirement Security Projection Model® (RSPM) can assess the size of households’ retirement deficit by modeling Retirement Savings Shortfalls (RSS). In this Issue Brief, an RSPM® module classifies households by the following gender and marital statuses: single female, widow, single male, and widower. Key findings are:

The retirement deficit — or additional savings required to meet basic needs in retirement — is higher for both widows and single females:

  • The average RSS is $18,476 per individual for married households where the female dies first (widowers).
  • The average RSS is $22,783 for married households where the male dies first (widows).
  • The average RSS is $37,690 for single males.
  • The average RSS is $72,883 for single females.