More than one in three Irish women have no retirement savings at all, according to a new pensions survey. The figure for men is one in four.
And for those who are investing in a pension fund, the average gender gap in savings at the age of 55 is 43 per cent, with men’s average pension pot of €144,716 comparing with an average of €82,674 for a woman at the same age.
The survey of 1,000 adults across the State was commissioned by Ask Acorn, a network of more than 100 financial advisers.
“Despite the progress on gender equality in recent years, including female participation in the workforce reaching all-time highs, women are still falling well behind men when it comes to their pension pots,” said Keith Butler, chief executive of Ask Acorn.
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“Given that women in Ireland typically live longer than men, and that there has been a substantial increase in recent years in the number of female retirees, the gender pension gap is hugely concerning.”
The findings come just months ahead of the introduction of auto-enrolment, under which all workers between the ages of 23 and 60 who are earning more than €20,000 in one or more jobs will be enrolled in a mandatory workplace pension. Up to 800,000 workers are expected to be drafted into the new system.
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Mr Butler says the explanation for the gender gap in pensions is long-standing and well-known. On average, women earn less than men, meaning that even where they are member of pension schemes, they are saving less into them.
Wages in some sectors traditionally dominated by women are also lower and women are more likely than men to be working part-time or to take time out of the workforce to act as family carers.
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Mr Butler said it was “imperative” the gender pension gap is addressed before women struggle to make ends meet in retirement.
At a more general level, nearly half of Irish adults have little or no pension savings, the survey found. Among respondents over 55 – for whom retirement is beginning to loom into view – 45 per cent had either less than €10,000 in retirement savings, or none at all.
The average pension pot across all ages is just €80,570, a fund that will deliver annual income of just more than €3,200 a year. Men were over twice as likely as women to have pension pots valued at more than €100,000.
The survey found that 44 per cent of people defined as working class have no pension savings, with a further 20 per cent having saved less than €10,000, meaning that just one in three working-class people have retirement savings above this level. People in this group often expect that the State pension will provide enough replacement income.
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Dubliners had the largest pension funds accumulated, with close to three in 10 having pots worth more than €100,000 – more than three times the number in Connacht. However, one in four people in Dublin have absolutely no retirement savings.
“Given their proximity to retirement, it is very worrying just how many people have practically nothing to fall back on in terms of pension savings” said Mr Butler.
“The risk of poverty in retirement has unfortunately increased in recent years, particularly for those aged 65 and over who are living alone. Rising living costs and the gender pension gap are contributing to this.”
