A hidden retirement gap is costing women more than $5,000 a year
The future looks grim for people who rely on Social Security income in retirement. The program is barreling toward running out of funds by 2032 unless Congress intervenes, and women in particular stand to lose if that doesn’t happen. Experts predict that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund, better known as OASI, will be depleted in as little as six years, or seven if we’re lucky. In the U.S. 63 million Americans receive Social Security benefits through that trust, which workers pay into over the course of their lifetimes. For older people who rely on Social Security income to pay for their basic needs like food and housing, that shortfall stands to be catastrophic. Seniors will take a major hit to their finances across the board, but, as with so many aspects of American life, the pain won’t be distributed evenly. The gender pay gap strikes again Given their longer lifespans, women tap into Social Security for longer stretches of their lives. Women at age 65 were expected to live from another 23.9 years on average, compared to 21.4 years for their male counterparts. While women can expect to lean on Social Security benefits for longer, they’re also tapping into a smaller pool of cash. Women still earn less than men, a phenomenon that shapes disparities in Social Security income dramatically. In 2019, the average Social Security benefit for women was $13,505 – almost $4,000 less than the $17,374 average for men. More recent data analyzed by personal finance website FinanceBuzz showed a worsening gender gap, with women receiving $5,254 less per year in Social Security benefits compared to men. That discrepancy would be even more pronounced, but many women receive Social Security connected to a higher earning male spouse’s lifetime income. The gender gap isn’t even across the country. In the state of Utah, men receive 27% more in Social Security benefits compared to women, receiving an average of $2,400 monthly compared to just $1,751 for women. The gap is al