Loss of a spouse can result in financial vulnerability. Life insurance can help you avoid a financial impact. For more information, see WISER’s factsheet: Are You Sure About Life Insurance?
Available in Spanish!
WISER’s guide, Financial Steps for Caregivers/ Medidas Financieras para los Cuidadores.
Five Questions to Ask Your Mother or Grandmother offers help with meaningful conversations to have with important women in your life. The booklet won GOLD honors from National Mature Media Awards.
Planning Tool: The Longevity Illustrator from the American Academy of Actuaries and Society of Actuaries asks about your health and demographics and shows the likelihood that you (and your partner) may live to certain ages.
Your Future
Paycheck® Calculator is an annuity calculator. See how a lump sum payment would be converted to a monthly amount.
The New York Times, and the San Juan Star Daily have articles highlighting the financial challenges for many Latinas when it comes to long-term savings, and mentions WISER, our partner, MANA, and the Latina Savings Project.
WISER partner Transamerica Institute’s latest survey report on women’s retirement shows more than four in 10 working women (41 percent) expect to retire at age 70 or older or do not plan to retire.
Poverty rates among older Americans rose from 8.9% in 2020 to 10.3% in 2021. For many older minority women, the poverty rates were even higher. Pay inequity contributes to this outcome. See WISER’s factsheet: The Story is in the Numbers
WISER / National Council on Aging (NCOA) National Surveys – What Women Say: Insights and Policy Solutions for Lifelong Financial Security includes a website, fact sheet and surveys. Findings: half of U.S. women ages 25+ are struggling financially today, and 90% or more support bipartisan policy solutions to help. Read the press release.
REGISTER! October 4,
2023 – WISER’s Annual Women’s Retirement Symposium: Women & Retirement: Improving the Pathways Forward. Event will be virtual and in-person in Washington, DC. AGENDA
New report, Caregiving wallops retirement savings: Here’s how. See WISER’s Financial Steps for Caregivers and the Caregiving Hub for additional resources.
WISER trainer featured in this New York Times article, Your Finances in Retirement: When Do You Turn Over Control?
The Broadcast Retirement Network features an interview with Cindy Hounsell of WISER and Ramsey Alwin of NCOA discussing the results from the recent “What Women Say” survey. Watch the video here.
August 26th, Women’s Equality Day, reminds us that the majority of older women around the world are struggling in old age — women live longer and need more income to avoid poverty. Become a Wiser Woman: pay attention to what happens to Social Security & Medicare — the bedrock programs for the majority of older Americans and their families.
Just released: Longevity Literacy Study shows individuals with strong longevity knowledge are more likely to plan and save for retirement while working, and they tend to experience better financial outcomes in retirement.
8/15/23 Moms Equal Pay Day raised awareness about pay inequity between mothers and fathers in the workforce. See: AAUW’s Fast Facts: Mothers in the Workforce.
1. Social Security benefits are calculated based on your highest 35 earning years. For years that income is not earned, a zero is used in
Every day more than 10,000 people in the United States turn 65. From 1969 to 2020, the portion of people over age 65 who were
Savings Bonds are often considered a safe and trustworthy investment because the U.S. government backs them. There are different types of savings bonds, the most recent and one of the most popular types being the I Bond. A key feature of the I Bond is that it is inflation-protected.
Congratulations to this year’s iOme Challenge winners Benjamin Ault, Hans-Jacob Larsen Nesheim, and Douglas Lamdin (faculty advisor) from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. They received a $5,000 prize and presented their essay at WISER’s forum in June. Read the winning essay.
The iOme (I OWE ME) Challenge is a national student competition that encourages students to analyze the current state of retirement policy in the U.S. and propose viable policy solutions to meet the needs of their generation. Each year, student teams from across the U.S. respond to the annual iOme Challenge question in a 5,000-word essay.
The Benefit U Project The goal of the Benefit U project is to better understand independent workers’ needs and priorities and to test an easy-to-use fintech solution to meet their benefit needs.
With support from the Financial Health Network, WISER has built upon the Benefit U Project’s work and piloted an approach to expand financial education and access to benefits while also leveraging the reach of local nonprofits that serve independent workers in specific sectors.
Benefit U – Building Portable Benefits for Independent Workers: A Fintech/Nonprofit Partnership in Appalachia Summary Report, September 2021
WISER 2023 Events
WISER’s Annual Women’s Retirement Symposium
Women & Retirement: Improving the Pathways Forward
October 4, 2023
1:00 – 5:00pm ET – Reception immediately following.
Attend virtually or in-person at 101 Constitution Ave NW, Washington DC.
Agenda coming soon!
Click below to see more upcoming events featuring WISER.
In this article (and video), Kerry Hannon, Yahoo! Finance Senior Columnist discusses Seniors: This year’s big increase in Social Security benefits is falling short.
Corporate gerontologist and caregiving expert, Sherri Snelling interviews Cindy Hounsell of WISER (Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement) on the Caregiving Club. Cindy talks about a new tool from WISER for caregivers called the Caregiver Financial Hub.
SSA Blog by Cindy Hounsell, President, WISER
Women’s income security continues to be a challenge. Women are overrepresented in the low-wage workforce, and many must work part-time to accommodate family caregiving responsibilities. As a result, many women have lower Social Security benefits and fewer savings in personal accounts and workplace plans.
How much you will receive from Social Security? Sign up for a my Social Security account to get an estimate of future benefits. Learn more: Social Security & Women.
WISER publishes its WISERWoman newsletter quarterly. Get a firsthand look at WISER's materials and the latest information, news and resources to help you plan for your financial future.
