Why Women Are the $30T Future of Retirement Planning

For women, retirement planning comes with built-in challenges—longer life expectancies, lower lifetime earnings and time out of the workforce for caregiving—which all erode long-term financial security.

Jean Chatzky, founder of the digital media company HerMoney, which focuses on improving female financial literacy and wellness, noted on a recent LIMRA and LOMA podcast, “Insider Insights,” that many women have an advantage of potentially inheriting wealth twice: first from parents and then from husbands, who are statistically more likely to die first.

Women are expected to inherit $30 trillion in wealth from Baby Boomers by 2030, according to research by McKinsey.

This historic wealth transfer presents a major opportunity for financial professionals—especially those offering lifetime income solutions that reflect women’s priorities. The Alliance for Lifetime Income by LIMRA found that nearly half of surveyed women aged 61 through 65 expressed interest in annuities, outpacing men by more than 10 percentage points. Yet only 39% of women said they understood how annuities fit into a retirement plan, compared with 52% of men.

“[Women] don’t want to suffer lifestyle deflation; they want to be able to continue their lives, to help their children and grandchildren in their communities,” said Chatzky on the podcast. “All of those things are possible … but [women] need professionals and solutions to help them figure out the best decumulation strategies.”

Just 67% of women reported feeling confident about living the retirement lifestyle they wanted, compared with 76% of men, according to LIMRA’s 2025 Retirement Investors Survey, which focused on workers aged 40 through 85 with at least $100,000 in investable assets.

The financial consequences are real, according to a new column in LIMRA Industry Trends, “How Financial Professionals Can Help Women Achieve a Secure Retirement,” published in honor of National Retirement Security Month.

“Women tend to have fewer retirement resources available, which could leave them vulnerable at some point in their retirement years,” said Chatzky, in a statement.

The data back Chatzky up: The Institute for Women’s Policy Research reported last year that women had, on average, 32% lower retirement incomes than men.

The confidence gap often begins long before retirement. A national survey by the Principal Financial Group Foundation from August found that, among 3,000 Generation Z and Millennial adults, only 38% of women felt confident discussing finances—compared with 56% of men. Nearly half of female respondents (44%) said money conversations made them anxious, and 45% said they avoided them altogether out of fear of judgment. By contrast, just 33% of men expressed similar concerns.

That disparity only grows more pronounced when comparing sources of retirement income for retired, non-married men and women. LIMRA’s Retirement Investors Survey found that men were significantly more likely to receive retirement income from personal savings, traditional defined benefit plans and individual retirement accounts.