Unmarried women experience more stable wealth than their married peers
Welcome to the bi-weekly update (#150) where we dive deeper into key topics, themes or issues specific to women and their lived experience.
Unmarried or divorced women fair well (financially)
According to new research by the Centre for Retirement Research at Boston College, unmarried baby boomer women no longer face the financial penalty they once did, as reported by Washington Post.
Younger baby boomers who spent most of their life single or unattached are catching up to their married peers. Why?
More younger boomer women received university degrees, joined the workforce, earned more money and had higher earning power.
However, boomer men have also suffered high unemployment rates, their wages stagnating plus their long-term wealth has declined.
The women married to these men have therefore seen their (median) wealth decline for this reason.
In other words, never married women tend to have more stable wealth, whilst married women experience declining wealth due to their spouse.
And based on research, married women (or women who are in a relationship) tend to defer long-term investing decisions to their male partner.
Which means that many may not engage with their (long-term) money until a life event such as a divorce or the death of a spouse, which exposes them to greater financial risk.
Single or unattached women on the other hand, have had no choice but to engage with their money and take charge of their long-term investing.
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