Are retirement plans meeting the needs of women today?

This year, the National Institute on Ageing (NIA) took a deeper dive into the experiences of women in midlife and beyond. Let’s explore how these findings can help your female clients, as well as offer practical ways for you to support them through the key moments in their financial planning journey.

What the NIA findings reveal

The NIA’s most recent report on aging women in Canada suggests that many women may experience aging differently from men due to the financial and social circumstances they face when entering retirement. The report reveals that factors such as finances, health, social connections, and caregiving often overlap yet aren't always addressed together when building retirement plans.

We’ll get into the three key takeaways to consider when developing retirement strategies for your female clients that can better support them through the financial hurdles they may face as they plan for the future.

1 Income and financial security are the strongest predictors of aging well

One of the more significant takeaways from the report is how closely financial security is tied to social well-being and quality of life as people age. Older women with adequate incomes reported better health, stronger social connections, more confidence in retirement, and a more positive outlook on aging, whereas older women with inadequate incomes reported worse across nearly every measure, including health, mental health, loneliness, retirement readiness, access to care, and overall perceptions of aging.

Income can affect how people access care, stay connected to their communities, make housing decisions, and manage unexpected costs as they age. And because financial security is connected to so many aspects of later life, retirement planning needs to encourage women to address any financial and lifestyle decisions around retirement long before they enter it.

2 Women may have a greater need to make retirement income last

Women, on average, live longer than men, having a life expectancy of 84 compared with 79.6, which means that their retirement income often needs to last longer. Yet Statistics Canada has reported that, between 1976 and 2022, older women consistently had lower incomes than older men, and government transfers still accounted for 43.1% of older women’s total income in 2022, compared with 32.3% for older men. 

The NIA reinforced these findings by stating that older women were also more likely than older men to report inadequate income, feel less likely to retire when they wanted, and have less than $5,000 saved for retirement. 

This makes retirement income planning especially important for women, as a longer retirement can leave less room for errors, risks, and assumptions that don't reflect the potential inflation, care needs, market changes, interrupted work histories, or periods of living alone they may encounter. It also makes it even more necessary to understand how personal savings, workplace plans, government benefits, and household circumstances work together over time to address these potential disruptors in retirement income.

3 Loneliness remains a significant issue

Loneliness at face value may not appear to be a financial issue, but the factors connected to it, such as health, housing, transportation and access to community support, are all tied to financial decisions in some way. In the NIA report, 61% of older women reported feeling lonely, and among women with inadequate incomes, that rose to 76%. 

Loneliness isn't often addressed in retirement planning, but the NIA findings show why it belongs in the conversation. It can influence where someone lives, how easily they can get help, whether they can access services, and what kind of support network they may have in place as their needs change. For women who are widowed, single, caregiving, or managing retirement with limited income, these factors can become an important part of their financial plan.

From insight to action

The common thread across the NIA findings is that there are so many factors that influence healthy aging—financial insecurity, longer life expectancy, loneliness—and they build on one another to shape how prepared someone feels for the future. Some women might be missing the early and comprehensive financial planning needed to age with stability. 

For advisors, this can be an opportunity to look beyond standard retirement assumptions and to leverage these findings as the foundation for retirement conversations. By spotting potential gaps earlier and asking more informed questions, you can build relevant strategies for women that appropriately reflect the experiences they may face as they age. 

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