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Are retired American females more frugal than their male counterparts? "Yes," says a recent national survey of 800 American adults ages 60 to 74.
The poll, conducted for Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, found that retired females are more likely than their male counterparts to take practical steps to save money compared to their pre-retirement lifestyles:
- Forty-four per cent of retired females said they are giving fewer or smaller gifts to family members in retirement compared to 29 per cent of males.
- Forty-two per cent of retired females said they are shopping more with coupons or at sales in retirement compared to 28 per cent of retired males.
- Thirty-five per cent of retired females said they are eating out less often or at less expensive restaurants in retirement compared to 29 per cent of retired males.
- Twenty per cent of retired females said they are living in a smaller house in retirement compared to 16 per cent of retired males.
Retired males and females share statistically similar support for three retirement money-saving activities. Thirty-seven per cent of males and 36 per cent of females said they are travelling less or closer to home compared to their pre-retirement lifestyle. Fifteen per cent of both genders said they are walking, bicycling or taking public transportation instead of driving, and three per cent of women and two per cent of men said they had moved in with their children to save money.
Savings
Thirty-six per cent of retired males said they were unwilling to take any money-saving steps in retirement, compared with 28 per cent of females.
The higher the income of a respondent, the less likely he or she was to take money-saving steps compared to their pre-retirement lifestyles. For example, nearly half (49 per cent) of retirees with lower incomes (less than $40,000) reported giving fewer or smaller gifts to family members compared to 17 per cent of those with higher incomes ($80,000 or more).
Similarly, 43 per cent of those with lower incomes reported they shopped with coupons or at sales compared to 15 per cent of those having higher incomes.
"It's good to be frugal as long as fear and worry aren't driving one's decision-making," said Mark Anema, vice-president of accumulation and retirement income solutions for Thrivent Financial. "One key to a satisfying retirement for both males and females is knowing how to appropriately align one's assets, income and spending to one's circumstances and goals."
Data for this survey were collected via telephone between December 1 and 13, 2007, among a nationwide cross section of 800 US adults ages 60 to 74 of whom 397 were men and 403 were women.
Sixty-four per cent of respondents indicated that they are retired, 16 per cent identified themselves as partly retired and 20 per cent considered themselves not retired.
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