Marketing to Women

There is no question that, on a very basic level, financial planning tools and knowledge are needs of both genders. But these tools and knowledge need to be used differently by women.

Why focus on women? Women face some basic realities, which are very different than those faced by men:

• Women live an average of four to five years longer than men; on average, they will spend the last one-third of their lives not married, but single, either through widowhood or divorce.


• Nearly 85 percent of elderly poor are women.


• Eighty percent of the people in nursing homes are women.


• Sixty percent of women have no pension.


• Women still earn 60-80 percent less than men doing comparable jobs in the workplace.


• Fifty-six is the average age of widowhood.


• Among women 35-55 years old, between one- and two-thirds will be impoverished by age 70.


• Over 58 percent of female Baby Boomers have less than $10,000 saved in a pension plan or 401(k) plan.


• For every year a woman stays home caring for a child, she must work five extra years to recover lost income, pension coverage, and career promotion.


• In one study, 18 percent of women are saving nothing for retirement.


• Twenty percent of women never get married.


• Approximately 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce.


• A woman who was married, then divorced, realizes a 26 percent decline in income after the divorce.


• Seventy-five percent of women who marry will eventually be widowed.