-Image by katemangostar
Are you a woman heading into retirement time?
Here are 7 known challenges that women have according to the Midland National white paper, Empowered .
1) Receiving limited financial information – Financial planning can be daunting and intimidating if you don’t have the confidence to pursue the information.
2) Unequal pay - In order to save enough, women must earn enough. This could present a problem if they are earning less than they desire. This will likely affect women’s retirement savings. If you are earning less than you wish, discuss your salary with your boss. Negotiating can be critical for women. According to leanin.org, women who ask for a raise are more than twice as likely to get one as women who don’t. This takes confidence!
3) Increasing cost of health care – This is something that few of us have much control over but financial planning will help with this. Keeping yourself healthy is a number one priority. Putting yourself first requires a sense of esteem and worthiness to put your needs first.
5) Factors affecting Social Security – Your retirement may be affected by years of child-rearing. Checking with Social Security about what is available is taking care of yourself.
6) Lack of retirement process knowledge - Many women are approaching retirement with uncertainty, and often describe it as scary and unknown. They feel less financially secure and less knowledgeable about the retirement process than men.
7) Expressing retirement concerns - Women are navigating an industry that just a few decades ago was almost exclusively run by – and dealt primarily with – men. This shift leaves a lot to be explored as women and men approach, think about, and manage money differently. Today the vast majority of women are likely to manage all household finances. In fact, 90 percent of all women will be solely responsible for their household’s financial well-being at some point in their life, due to singleness, divorce, widowhood, or simply by choice.
What will it take to handle these challenges? Mental Fitness! We think about physical fitness – going to the gym – eating right and staying active as a healthy way to live. But there is a parallel track to this. With the help of neuroscience, and mindfulness it is totally possible to build muscles (neuropathways) in your brain that cultivate a sense of calm and confidence moving forward.
Recent clients who went through the 7-week Positive Intelligence Mental Fitness boot camp talked about the decreased trepidation and fear when thinking about their future. They felt emboldened to ask for raises and promotions that reflected the increased value they felt for themselves, and how they want to live. They simply feel more sure of themselves in all respects.
If any of this resonates for you – please visit www.mollymccormick.org to find out more. Click on the assessment to identify which line of negative thinking is affecting your thoughts about retirement.
Comments