More than half of the middle-income women surveyed felt unsatisfied with their current financial situation and uncertain about their future financial needs. Almost one-third of them don't know how to achieve their financial goals, according to a new LIMRA report, Reaching Out to Middle-Income Women.
"What's striking is that consistently, women in the middle market expressed more concern about their financial well-being than men did," said Nilufer Ahmed, senior research director, LIMRA Markets Research. "The recession has been hard on middle-income Americans, with many indicating that they have not made any progress or fallen behind on their financial goals. Yet, the women we surveyed seemed to be more receptive to listening to financial services representatives for the tools and advice needed to achieve their financial goals."
LIMRA research found that nine in 10 middle-income families consider having adequate life insurance coverage to be one of their financial goals. While one-third of all respondents felt they had not achieved this goal, women were more likely to feel this way than men. Married women, in particular, tend to believe that their households need more life insurance coverage compared to married men.
Affording long-term care is also a higher priority for women than men. More than one-third more of women say they worry about not being able to afford long-term nursing care.
While retirement savings is a universal concern, women are more likely than men to feel like they are not saving enough (54 percent for women versus 49 percent for men). Research has found that women tend to be more risk-adverse and less likely to invest in stocks and mutual funds, which could impact their ability to grow their savings. LIMRA experts suggest companies should provide more information about appropriate investments, which could help them attain higher returns on their assets.
