Los Angeles, CA – A delightful new survey reveals that working women overwhelmingly fantasize about retirement filled with globe-trotting, grand-kid cuddling, watercolor classes, and perhaps finally learning what volunteering actually pays (spoiler: still nothing).
Yet when asked the minor detail of how much cash they’ll need to fund this golden-era vision, more than half cheerfully admitted they’re basically throwing darts at a bingo card.
The Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies reports the median guess lands at a cool $500,000, while one in four women boldly declared they’ll require $2 million or more—roughly the cost of a decent parking spot in Manhattan and one lifetime supply of rosé.
Nearly half confessed their biggest retirement nightmare is outliving their money, which feels less like planning and more like playing financial Russian roulette with extra chambers.
Lindsey Stanberry, who literally runs a newsletter called The Purse, says she wasn’t shocked. She routinely interviews women sitting on seven-figure nest eggs who still whisper, “But is it enough?” like they’re hiding from the IRS in their own walk-in closets.
Certified financial planner Cary Carbonaro sighed so hard the phone line crackled. “Groundhog Day,” she called it. Women remain less confident, hold smaller emergency funds, hire fewer advisors, and—new Olympic sport alert—excel at guessing.
Only one in four women has bothered to write down a retirement plan. Putting thoughts on paper apparently feels riskier than skydiving without checking if the parachute has a subscription model.
Three in ten use a professional advisor. The other seven either trust TikTok, their cousin who “knows crypto,” or the magic money fairy scheduled to arrive right after the tooth fairy retires.
Almost four in ten have already taken loans or early withdrawals from retirement accounts. Because nothing says “future me will be fine” like borrowing from future you at a penalty rate that would make a loan shark blush.
Catherine Collinson, head of the Transamerica Institute, gently reminded everyone that when life serves lemons, women often have two choices: lemonade stand or raid the 401(k). The 401(k) at least pays interest back to yourself, which feels like robbing Peter to pay Paula with a polite thank-you note.
Financial planners beg women to run the numbers before the sky falls. Free retirement calculators lurk on websites belonging to AARP, Vanguard, Fidelity—basically anywhere that isn’t trying to sell you a timeshare in the metaverse.
Experts also recommend talking about money with friends instead of treating it like the family recipe for ambrosia salad (top secret, slightly shameful). Fewer than two in ten women chat regularly about savings with loved ones, proving we’d rather discuss colonoscopy results than compound interest.
Maddy Dychtwald, author of books with “span” in the title, insists candid money talk is basically free therapy with better ROI.
Carbonaro summed it up neatly: Men hire advisors when the sun shines; women wait until the basement floods, the roof caves, and the dog files for emancipation.
So ladies, the message is clear—start crunching numbers before the only thing retired is your ability to Google “how much house does $37 buy in 2045.”
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