Women, marriage, and the National Retirement Risk Index

Abstract

The brief's key findings are: (1) Women are spending a growing share of their lives single, so it is useful to consider how their marital history affects their retirement preparedness. (2) While married women have much higher household earnings and wealth, they are more at risk of failing to maintain their standard of living in retirement. (3) This surprising result is driven by two-earner couples who: (3a) get less from Social Security relative to their earnings due to the decline of the spousal benefit; and (3b) save less in 401(k)s since often only one spouse has coverage. (4) These findings highlight the need for expanding coverage to all households and underscore the value of Social Security to single women.