Retirement Activities Differ by Gender

According to a press release from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, spending time with grandchildren and other family members was the top priority for retired women.

The national survey of 800 American adults age 60 to 74 conducted for Thrivent found that overall the main retirement focus for retired males included:

• Taking care of things around the house and yard (28%);
• Spending time with grandchildren or other family members (26%);
• Enjoying things like playing golf, shopping, going out with friends (18%);
• Pursuing hobbies (12%);
• Volunteering in the community (7%); and
• Watching where your money goes, clipping grocery coupons, etc. (6%).

The main retirement focus for retired females included:

• Spending time with grandchildren or other family members (36%);
• Taking care of things around the house and yard (25%);
• Enjoying things like playing golf, shopping, going out with friends (16%);
• Pursuing hobbies (8%);
• Watching where your money goes, clipping grocery coupons, etc. (7%); and
• Volunteering in the community (3%).

Interestingly, the survey found that as retired males’ incomes increase, their focus on taking care of the house and yard diminishes from 43% to 17%, and as retired females’ incomes increase, their focus on taking care of the house and yard increases from 24% to 32%. Retirees of both genders having incomes of $40,000-$79,999 are most apt to cite spending time with grandchildren or other family members as their main focus in retirement (34% of males and 42% of females).

Data for the survey was collected via telephone interviews by the Discovery Research Group on behalf of Action Marketing Research between December 1 and 13, 2007, among a nationwide cross section of 800 U.S. adults age 60 to 74 of whom 397 were men and 403 were women. Sixty-four percent of respondents indicated that they are retired, 16% identified themselves as partly retired, and 20% considered themselves not retired.