Research suggests that women earn around $0.78 for every single dollar that American men earn but there is an altogether different gap in income which people usually don’t consider. Women who took their time off from their work to take care of their family usually tend to get Social Security checks which are much lower just because they don’t have enough years of earning on their income books. This was revealed by the Center for Retirement Research.

Social Security benefits are hugely computed based on the earnings through the 35 years when people tend to earn the highest. All those women who stay at home to raise a family usually can show 0 earnings which can factor into their calculation of Social Security benefits and this drastically lower the Social Security benefits. Due to this, women receive much less as their monthly payments than the males in the US. Around 40% of women were born between 1941 and 1950 had no number of years during their wage earning top 35 years while at the same time just 15% of men had 0 number of years.

So, what is the best way in which you can bridge the Social Security gap between men and women? Is there a viable and surefire solution? Can working longer help women get more on benefits? Read on.

Women should work longer – What benefits can they reap?

If women who are approaching their retirement age, they should work longer in order to meet the Social Security gap. Irrespective of their gender, every worker is able to boost his benefits on Social Security by waiting beyond their full retirement age in order to claim them. For every single year past your actual retirement age which you can put off on collecting SS benefits, you get an addition of 8% in the form of monthly benefits. When you were born is the main factor which decides your retirement age but for every American who is approaching retirement, its 66 and 67 as per the SSA.gov.

Reasons to work more and save more for retirement – Don’t allow men to get fair advantage

Do you feel from the core of your heart that men take an unfair benefit as long as retirement is concerned? Experts are of the opinion that there are multiple factors which work against women with regards to saving for retirement. There are few reasons behind women having to work a bit harder at saving. What are they? Check them out.

1. Women tend to live more than men: Living longer is definitely a good thing but living for more years will mean running out of your retirement funds if you don’t save enough money. Living longer is not always associated with living healthier. A woman who turns 65 has a life expectancy rate of 86.6 years which is 2.5 years more than a man of the same age. This means 2.5 years more of living costs and also medical and long term care costs. So, this is a reason for women to work more and save more.
2. Women spend less years at their workplace: Raising children and taking good care of elderly parents have always been of more priority for women and this has lead them to take time out of their work. As per a research done by Harvard Business School, an approximate 45% of women left their job voluntarily and among them majority of them claimed that family responsibilities drove them to take such a decision. Even 10% of the highly educated women quit their workplace to raise their children.
3. Women can sometimes earn less than men: Whether or not women earn more than men can become debatable but in reality women earn less than men on an average. As per the American Association of University Women, full-time female employees earned 80% of the income pulled off by men and it was also revealed that women are twice much likely to work part time than men as they are bound by too many liabilities and obligations.
4. Women are more cautious about money: Plenty of studies reveal that women are more averse to risk than men and they are much less likely to put their money in any sort of risky financial assets. Women may not invest in stock market funds and rather use investment vehicles like CDs as they don’t tend to lose money. Although studies show that both men and women have earned equal returns since the last decade, yet they are more cautious about money and investment.

Therefore, being a woman doesn’t let you from retiring early and living longer without enough cash. Take into account the above mentioned reasons to work more and also save more so that you may still have enough to fall back on if you live longer than your male counterparts.