You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby – and Could Go Farther Financially through Self-Direction

Published on October 3, 2017

In the 1970s a cigarette manufacturer marketed its brand to young professional women with the catchy slogan, “You’ve come a long way, baby.” The words celebrated the Women’s Movement and acknowledged all the women joining the workforce and climbing the career ladder. Fast forward to today and women have journeyed even further, becoming supreme multitaskers and the master of their own domain.

In fact, according to a recent “Women, Money and Power Study” from Allianz Life Insurance Co., more than half of the respondents characterized themselves as the chief financial officer of their household, and more than a third of married women (37 percent) indicated that they are the primary breadwinner in the family, up from 31 percent in 2013. Plus, more than half of the respondents (53 percent) reported that they are in charge of most, if not all, of the management of the household savings and investments.

So, why when it comes to retirement planning is there still a significant funding gap? While both genders face challenges in planning for retirement, women have more obstacles to overcome. For instance:

• Average earnings for women remain at about 21 percent below their male counterparts. This translates into reduced Social Security benefits and lower retirement savings.
• Women also typically may need to take time off from work to care for a sick loved one; again, reducing their overall lifetime earnings.
• According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, women outlive men by five years. With longer lifetime expectancy, women will be doing it with less in retirement savings. And, women tend to spend their final years alone due to widowhood or divorce.

This all adds up to financial insecurity at a time when most people should be in a more stable financial situation.

New outlook

For today’s generation of women who understand how far they’ve come and appreciate that financial decision making is in their hands, self-directed retirement investment planning may hold the answer. For many women, improving their financial security begins with them. By planning ahead and gaining financial knowledge, women can take the short way to a stable financial future … and close that gender gap in retirement savings.

For those who understand non-publicly traded alternative assets, a self-directed IRA can be a great way to build retirement wealth more aggressively. This retirement savings vehicle allows individuals to invest in nontraditional assets that they already know and understand such as real estate, mortgages and other loans, private hedge funds, precious metals, limited partnerships, commercial paper and notes, and more. Self-directed investors also make all their own investment decisions; with so many women already in charge of their household finances, they already know and understand a great deal about where their present finances stand and chances are, where they’d like them to be in the future.

If you’re already empowered as the CFO of your household finances and investments, why not move up the savings ladder a bit more by looking into self-direction as a retirement wealth-building strategy? Contact Next Generation Trust Company at 1-888-857-8058 or Info@NextGenerationTrust.com for more information about being better prepared for your retirement journey. You can read more about self-directed retirement plans in our white paper library on our website.