Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Trade Like A Man, Save Like A Woman

How will you be planning for your retirement? According to CNBC your gender could play a bigger role than you think in your retirement plan. While of course not everyone will adhere to gross generalizations, studies have shown that men and women do have a tendency to take a different approach to saving and investing for retirement. Which way is the right way?  Well, as John Ameriks points out in the article, “It's not a matter of one gender being right and the other wrong... You just need to be aware of the differences when you're making investing decisions.”

 The differences may not be as surprising as you think.  Here are some of the things CNBC had to say about how men and women invest and save:

• Men tend to be overconfident about their investing and retirement planning skills.
• Women generally prefer less risky investments.
• Men don't plan for a long retirement.
• Women save more over time.

Considering the fact that our society still tends to view the stock market as “a man’s game”, and one with which women aren’t quite as comfortable, it makes sense that a man would be more confident with frequent buying and selling, while a woman might tend to go for the safer investment requiring less action and attention over the long haul. But lack of attention doesn’t necessarily mean lack of awareness.  Women tend to worry more than men about security in their Golden Years.  The article posits that this is because many men don’t expect to live much past 80, but another possibility is that men have more confidence in their ability to earn a living at any time in their lives; whereas women (who are often the ones to leave the job market in order to care for family) are more afraid of having to depend on an outside source for their livelihood.

Part of planning for your retirement is planning for your estate.  Whether you are a man or a woman, adventurous or conservative, a trader or a saver—your retirement plan and your estate plan need to be in line with each other.  Our office can help ensure that your retirement and estate plans are compatible... both right now and decades down the line.