"Women are more willing than men to admit that they don't know how much money they can safely withdraw from their retirement nest eggs," says Ted Mathas, executive vice president at New York Life Insurance Company, New York.
In the recent National Underwriter/New York Life poll of 1,002 consumers, 51% of women said they don't know how much they can draw out every year without running out of principal prematurely, he points out. Meanwhile, only 29% of men said they did not know.
This finding has planning implications for advisors as well as for women, Mathas indicates.
The survey also found that women are more concerned about having to fund retirement beyond age 85 than are men. Over half the women (57%) said they are very or somewhat concerned about this, while only 43% of the men said so.
In addition, 76% of the women are concerned about major cutbacks in Social Security vs. 62% of the men.