ONLY 27% HAVE MORE THAN $100,000 IN 401(K): WOMEN STRUGGLING TO INVEST

Sue Asci knows what it’s like to struggle to make ends meet. For a single, 37-year-old administrative assistant living in Boston, simply socking away $2,000 a year in an individual retirement account is a big sacrifice.

“It’s expensive to live by yourself,” says Ms. Asci, who opened her first IRA two years ago. “Plus, quite frankly, I wasn’t really conditioned to worry about my own retirement. I always thought I’d be married and not have to worry about saving for my future on my own.”

Ms. Asci is hardly alone. Women, especially single women, find it much more difficult to plan for their retirements than men. Only 27% of women have more than $100,000 in their 401(k) plans, versus 43% of men, according to the results of a new survey commissioned by Boston-based Scudder Kemper Investments Inc. The median amount of other investable assets women have set aside for retirement is $20,000, compared with $40,000 for men, the survey concluded.

“Our society is well on its way to creating another generation of impoverished older women,” says Christopher Hayes, executive director of the National Center for Women and Retirement Research, which conducted the survey of 1,000 baby boomers with household incomes of at least $30,000.

The math behind those words is simple. Women are paid only about 75% of what men with similar responsibilities make, according to the Census Bureau. And two paychecks are better than one.

Of the female baby boomers polled, 39% were married, compared with 61% of male respondents.

“Marriage offers boomer women a greater economic safety net as they enter their retirement years,” Mr. Hayes says. “Long-term marriage combined with a lengthy and stable work history increases the likelihood of entering the later years with economic security.”

The survey also found that 27% of women have not made financial plans for retirement, compared with 18% of men. Of those women who don’t have a plan to cover their financial needs in retirement, 73%
blame it on lack of funds.

“It’s kind of hard to save for retirement when you are living paycheck to paycheck,” says Carol V. Berman, a financial planner in Cambridge, Mass., with about $21 million under management.

Ms. Berman, who teaches a Radcliffe College seminar for women interested in investing, says most women would benefit from taking a similar course or two.

“It’s really a matter of education,” she says. “Once women realize they have options, they can set priorities and make sure they are meeting their retirement goals.”

But even that is easier said than done. The Scudder Kemper survey found that 52% of women feel “stupid” when asking financial questions. Only 38% of male respondents admitted to feeling the same way.

“It can be embarrassing,” Ms. Asci says of her experience talking to several financial advisers at local banks before opening her IRA.

Other findings in the survey of Americans born from 1946 to 1964 show that baby boomers are not inclined to use financial advisers and that 70% of boomers feel confident they can select the right investments on their own .