Women need to save £ 210 more per month to match men’s retirement

Women have to save £ 210 more each month when they work to ensure the same lifestyle as a retired man, the report found.

Pension insurance provider Scottish Widows said women should almost double the amount they deduct, from 285 to 495 pounds – every month from the age of 20 until the day they retire to bridge the £ 185,000 savings.

The average 20-year-old woman will have a £ 250,000 pension by age 68 – £ 100,000 less than the average man. This is despite the fact that women need £ 85,000 more than men to cover the cost of longer life and higher care costs.

The 25-year-old man will turn 86 today, and women can expect to turn 89, according to the Office for National Statistics. One in four women aged 60 today will live to be 94 years old. Women have to save an extra £ 50,000 to cover income for extra years and will need £ 35,000 to pay for care, as they spend an average of 460 days in nursing homes, compared to just 100 days for men.

Jackie Leiper of Scottish Widows said: “Even if we fill the gap between how much men and women have saved until retirement, true equality would not be achieved. Women need to fund longer retirement and pay more for care. “

Scottish widows have also called on the government to legally enforce pensions as part of divorce settlements to help bridge the gap between the retirement of men and women.

He said pensions should be included in the financial settlement, as they are usually the second largest asset of a household, after property. If they do not do this, women are in a much worse position, as they often give up a fair share. Last year, there were a number of divorcing couples sharing pensions fell by a third and reached its lowest level in 10 years.

Women who leave work and start a family end up paying with significantly lower pension savings. A five-year parenting break costs £ 65,000, says AJ Bell, a stockbroker. If a mother took two years off and then worked three days a week, she would be £ 158,000 worse than if she worked full time.

Which one ?, a consumer advocate, called on the government to contribute to the pensions of mothers giving birth for the first time in order to close the growing gender gap.

A pandemic increase the gender pension gap, after women bore the burden of job loss, dismissal, and income reduction. Women were also more likely to take time without work to care for children or elderly relatives.