Facts women and retirement

• Only 12% of women are "very confident" in their ability to retire fully with a comfortable lifestyle.
• About 53% of women plan to retire after 65 or do not plan to retire at all.
• About 54% of women plan to work after they retire -- 11% plan to work full-time and 43% part-time.
• Women could struggle to ensure they are, in fact, prepared to work in retirement. While 63% said they are staying healthy, only 57% are focused on performing well at their current job and 46% are keeping their job skills up to date.
• Roughly 64% do not have a backup plan for retirement income if forced into retirement sooner than they expected.
• Paying off debt is a financial priority for almost 68% of women. Only 51% of women cite saving for retirement as a priority.
• About 73% are saving for retirement through a workplace plan and/or outside of work in an IRA, mutual fund, bank account, etc. Women started saving for retirement at 27, on average.
• About 45% of women expect their primary source of retirement income to come from savings and investments such as 401(k), 401(b) and IRA accounts, while 30% expect to rely on Social Security.
• However, 81% of women are concerned that Social Security won't be there for them when they are ready to retire.
• Roughly 47% of Baby Boomer women said they know a great deal or quite a bit about Social Security benefits.
• About 66% of women are offered a 401(k) or similar employee-funded retirement plan, but 28% of women work part-time and are less likely to have workplace retirement benefits.
• About 77% of women who are offered an employee-funded plan participate in the plan. They contribute, on average, 7% of their salary to the savings plan.
• Women believe they will need to save $500,000, on average, in order to feel financially secure in retirement -- but about 55% said they "guessed" to land on that figure.
• Women's total household retirement accounts are $42,000 (estimated median).
• Women's emergency savings are just $2,000, though.
• Just 28% of women are aware of the Saver's Credit, a special tax break to low- and moderate-income taxpayers who are saving for retirement.
• One in three women uses a professional financial adviser to help manage their retirement savings and investments.
• Only 26% of women consider their long-term health when making lifestyle decisions.