In the back of Fortune Magazine this month, there is an Allstate ad with a cartoon image of a gray-haired woman with a leg chain connected to an attache case. The text of the ad begins:

"The number of women over 65 who are still working has increased by more than a third in the past ten years. Why are retirement-age women increasingly chained to their jobs? Well, women live longer than men, so their retirement savings have to stretch farther. Women earn less - 77 cents for every dollar a man earns - so they save less. And they work fewer years - the average women spends 11 years out of the workforce caring for children or elderly parents." They go on to promote active financial participation, utilization of 401Ks, and Spousal IRAs.

Wow, good advertising... it really got me thinking. I'm already concerned about having enough money for/during retirement, and this ad brought that set of concerns forth even more forcefully.

posted by Lura on Saturday, May 31, 2008