Women often reach retirement age with fewer pension benefits and retirement assets than men. All workers need to save more for retirement, but women face added challenges because they have lower earnings, experience higher job turnover, and have a longer life expectancy. Women generally begin retirement with smaller pensions than their male counterparts but usually live longer than men. Social Security is intended to be a supplemental source of income in retirement, but too many women are forced to rely on it as their sole source support in retirement. As a result of these issues, elderly women in the United States have one of the highest poverty rates of any industrialized nation.
