Amid a nationwide retirement insecurity crisis, there's a growing gap between men and women who work full-time jobs, according to a recent report by Dayforce, an international human capital management company, that shows growing disparities in how American workers are saving for retirement.

Women's retirement participation fell to 76% while men's contributions stayed at 80% from 2021 to 2024, the reports shows. Additionally, women contributed an average of $8,096 in 2024, compared with $10,974 for men.

Val Talgo, a clerical administrator for Spokane Public Schools for the past 30 years, says she wishes in hindsight that she had paid more attention to investing for retirement. She remembers the day she took her first job with the district. 

“A coworker told me, ‘Just think, in 30 years you can retire,’” she says. “But there was never any education around money management or saving for retirement.” 

With a husband who was disabled after falling on the job and two children to raise while working, her energy was tapped out, and she put other options such as a 401(k) and IRAs on the back burner, she explains. When she received a diagnosis in January that her breast cancer from a decade earlier had metastasized into her liver and bones, she decided to retire early at age 60.

Valgo says she never saw a financial adviser or planner but, in hindsight, she wished she had. Her Social Security is there for her, but at some point, she says she may have to return to work part time after retirement. 

Roughly 12% of men and 15% of women over 65 rely on Social Security for 90% or more of their income, according to data from the Social Security Administration.

Sarah Carlson, certified financial planner and owner of Spokane-based Fulcrum Financial Group LLC, says that regarding saving for retirement, women are particularly vulnerable due to their gender.

Carlson says some factors contributing to the disparity in retirement savings include:

• Women are more likely than men to be single parents.
• Women are more likely to take time out of the workforce to care for children and/or aging parents.
• A high percentage work part time and therefore don’t have access to retirement benefits. 
• Women’s annual income continues to lag men’s which leads to lower lifetime earnings, lower lifetime savings, and reduced Social Security benefits. In 2023, American women earned an average of $11,550 less per year than American men.
• Women live longer than men and therefore their savings needs are greater.

Elizabeth Melville, a retired teacher in the Sprague-Lamont School Districts, says she had “really good people taking care of me,” and “I just had good luck,” however, she also made savvy decisions long before retirement age.

Starting in 2001, Melville taught for Sprague-Lamont School Districts, southwest of Spokane about halfway between Spokane and Ritzville. She took a year off when her husband was dying of brain cancer several years ago. With the money from his life insurance, she paid off the mortgage on their home. After her kids left home, Melville retired last year at 62 to pursue interests she never had time for when working full time and raising three children, she says.

“I did max out my IRA options,” Melville says. “And put funds in every other place where my money would be matched. I also have a little inheritance from my husband’s family.”

Melville says she's grateful that the house she inhabits now has a mortgage with an interest rate below 3%, as well as the fact that she has had “really smart people” around her including a financial planner who has been managing her portfolio since 2012. 

“All in all, I’m going to be fine financially if I don’t go hog wild and go on lots of cruises or things like that,” she says.

Carlson says the best way for women to learn money management is to be curious and put oneself first. 

“Prioritize yourself. It’s a form of self-love and self-respect that you’re worthy of having financial options,” Carlson says. “Become more aware of purchases, plan and think about finances every week. As women, we usually have a food game plan, and you should be doing that in your financial life as well.”

Carlson suggests that having a system of working on your financial life is important. 

“People who get into trouble are the people who ignore their finances and then start dreading reality. You don’t know how much you have or where it is. The more women realize that being savvy with money is one of the most pro-female things they can do, and the sooner they get comfortable with their money, the more secure they will feel.

“There are so few things we have control over and money is one of the few things we have control over,” she says.