Women face an uncertain financial future – but they can do something about it

If you're a female between 55 and 64, you're like to have half the retirement savings that a man has…

(Christopher Furlong | Getty Images)

Women are facing a very uncertain financial future, warns Maike Currie of Fidelity Personal Investing.

“Women have much smaller pension pots than men,” she explains. “Those aged between 55 and 64 have around half as much put away as men, according to figures from the Office of National Statistics.”

Why? It’s often because they’ve taken a career break to start a family, which means they miss out on salary increases and possibly opportunities for promotion and that impacts how much they can save.

But with everyone set to enjoy a longer life, on average, that gives women an opportunity, Maike reckons. “Because we are living longer some people are saying that 65 is the new 45 which means, in other words, woman have time to catch up on their financial plans, but they need to prioritise their pension savings.”

Women as young as 30 should be thinking about this, too, she says. “Women need financial plans in their own right, they can’t rely on their partner, although they do need to be collaborative with their partner and talk to them about their finances.”

One key piece of advice she has is that women should talk to their partners about contributing into the woman’s pension scheme of she takes a career break to start a family for instance.

For more advice about getting and keeping your finances on track, in particular what should you do in the case of divorce, watch the video interview that Maike Currie gave to the Independent’s personal finance editor.