ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the various factors that impact on retirement finances, concentrating on the differential between women and men. Retirement financial security will partly depend on women's assessment of changes in their finances since their retirement. Yet many studies find that women's retirement plans do not adequately take account of their concerns about financial security. While the gender pay gap exists across all age groups, the divergence between male and female earnings increases after women reach 25–34 years of age, reflecting a reduction in workforce participation by women when they have children. Once again, the gender pay gap leaves women with less income from these sources than men. Incomes from public and private pensions based on women's own work were just 60 per cent and 48 per cent of men's pension incomes, respectively. While compulsory superannuation is based on income, the superannuation savings gap will continue to exist for many retired women and men.
