By Amy Gage

You don’t have to look far to see that the so-called golden years can be a financial challenge for the average woman in America. The statistics about women’s financial health during retirement are startling, and they seemingly are everywhere these days: in books and the business press, on the radio and the Internet.

Consider these facts: The poverty rate of elderly women, at 13.1 percent, is nearly twice that of men. Women live an average of six years longer than men, but far fewer women than men receive pension benefits, and they count on Social Security for a higher percentage of their yearly income.

According to the 2006 book Rich Woman by Kim Kiyosaki, a New Zealand–based entrepreneur and investor, 75 percent of older Americans who live in poverty are female, and 80 percent of those women are widows who were financially comfortable while their husbands were still alive.

“People’s biggest fear is that they’re going to outlive their money,” says Kevin Foreman, a Thrivent Financial for Lutherans representative in San Antonio, Texas. “Over time, as medical advances help us live longer, that’s a very realistic concern. Yet it doesn’t seem to affect people’s saving habits.”

Older women worried about their finances might conclude that it is too late for them to change their saving and spending habits. But by working with their Thrivent Financial representative to minimize taxes during retirement, evaluate their potential need for long-term care and maintain a cash flow if Social Security can’t support them, even retirees may be able to gain more discretionary income.

The average age of widowhood in America is 55 years old—an age when women may be too young to retire but old enough that they feel it is hard to start over, to change habits and learn new skills. “Often the husband took care of the finances,” says Vicki Seedhouse, a Thrivent Financial representative who is based in Billings, Montana. Many of those widows are “lost,” she adds, unsure of where to turn for advice or help.

You can allow your inexperience or lack of confidence to terrify you, or you can act—today—the experts say. “Better late than never” is an apt description of retirement planning. Here are the success stories of two women who faced down their fears, got the help and advice they needed and are enjoying their lives more as a result.

Sharing the wealth
Rhoda Christian learned the importance of saving money from the time she was a girl. Her parents took out a life insurance policy in her name through Lutheran Brotherhood, and Christian remembers her mom and dad discussing the investment in her presence. “Looking back,” she recalls, “I was impressed that they planned, even though they had a limited income. It taught me to look toward the future and not assume that everything’s going to be rosy.”

In fact, life has turned out rosy for Christian, 59, who retired this past May due to a bit of good fortune and a lot of deferred gratification and hard work.

A career employee at the University of Washington—working first at a registration desk and later as a receptionist—she never earned more than $40,000 per year. “It’s not been the easiest road,” says Christian, who has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education. But the income was “adequate,” and the pension plan and insurance coverage were too good to let go, especially for a woman who never married. “I’m the only income for me,” she explains.

Years ago she began putting $100 a month in a fixed annuity, with a low interest rate. “It was extremely conservative for a 30-year-old woman,” says Sherryl Adair, a Thrivent Financial representative who is based in Bellevue, Washington, and has been working with Christian for three years.

Christian and her older brother recently sold their late parents’ five-acre hobby farm, and inherited a significant sum of money, which they split. A conservative investor wise enough to know she needed guidance, Christian found herself more comfortable working with a female financial professional. “I just think a woman understands a woman a little easier,” she says, noting how well she and Adair have hit it off. “They’re more sympathetic and they have the same emotions.”

Adair asks her clients a series of questions about their finances and their goals. The process helps her clients “nail down a budget,” she says with a laugh. “I ask them to account for every cent they spend, whether variable or fixed.” She also had Christian attend a Thrivent Financial retirement seminar last May.

Adair has been proud to help Christian set up her own charitable giving fund through the Lutheran Community Foundation. Christian’s charities include Bothell First Evangelical Lutheran Church and the two Lutheran colleges she attended.

Being able to share her good fortune pleases Christian as much as her newfound sense of financial security. “It’s not too late to start planning,” she says. “You need to start at some point, be cautious and careful, and find a financial professional you can trust.”

Keep on dancing
Lois Jean Jones, 76, anticipates each day “with great joy.” A dancer by training and a survivor by nature, she says the key to happiness is not riches or fame. It’s staying active in mind, body and spirit. Her work with Kevin Foreman, a Thrivent Financial representative, has helped Jones maintain her optimistic attitude and active lifestyle.

The widow of a career U.S. Army officer, Jones received a $40,000 life insurance policy upon her husband’s death a decade ago. She used the money to pay off the house. He also had an annuity, which she invested with Thrivent Financial. Jones, who previously had gotten poor advice from an investment house, felt more trusting of a Lutheran-affiliated financial services organization.

“Because I know nothing about investing,” she explains, “I have to be in good hands and trust these people to do the best for me in my situation.”

Jones is lucky for a woman her age. She has been teaching dance classes since the early 1960s, a decade when she also was raising three sons. During an era when few women thought they could have a career and children both, she figured out how to do it all.

“All of my contemporaries were getting married and having families, and that was the end of their working days,” Jones says. “Most women in my generation were totally taken care of their whole lives. Daddy took care of them, and then their husbands took care of them. You see so many broken marriages, and these poor women have to work menial jobs to survive. That’s very sad.”

Jones has always had an independent streak. Her husband traveled. The family moved a great deal. He was stationed abroad during the Korean conflict and the Vietnam War. Naturally, she feared the worst—that he would be killed in combat—but she refused to allow her worry to get the best of her. “You learn that you’re it, and you have to cope with whatever comes up,” she says. “It makes you very strong.”

Though there was little money to spend and less to save, Jones continued to study dance. “Wherever we lived, I would seek out the best teachers,” she recalls. The profession has served her well throughout the years, both as a young mother who needed to work part time and now, having been widowed for 10 years, as an extra source of income that allows her some travel and the occasional restaurant meal.

Raised in poverty, Jones watched her mother wait tables to “eke out the nickels and dimes for me to go to ballet class.” That example informs her life even today. She lives frugally in a neighborhood where women shop for pleasure, dress fashionably and spend money in spas and beauty parlors. Jones, who took herself to France this summer to immerse herself in French cooking techniques, prefers to spend her money a different way—when she spends it at all.

“Having a money-tight childhood, I feel I have to have a nest egg,” she explains. “I’m cautious with the money I spend. I never go shopping unless it’s for something I need.” Her advice to other women? “Prepare yourself financially to live a life alone. I think that’s the best advice I could give.”

Amy Gage is director of marketing communications at St. Olaf College and a former newspaper columnist on issues of women and work.

Senoir Statistics
The poverty rate for elderly women is nearly twice that of elderly men.

Source: U.S. Census Department

The average age of widowhood in America is 55.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

The number of working Americans ages 65 to 74 will increase 48 percent by 2012.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

On Living Well
Here are tips from women who are enjoying their golden years:

On living within your means: “I finally broke down about 10 years ago and got a credit card,” says Rhoda Christian, 59, of Bothell, Washington. “Prior to that, I either paid cash or wrote a check. I still try to put some money away.”

On staying healthy: “You can’t have a good old age if you’re sickly,” says Lois Jean Jones, 76, of San Antonio, Texas. “Watch what you eat, take care of yourself and do a lot of exercise.”

On sharing and service: “I have no plans to increase my standard of living. I’m comfortable,” says a woman in her mid-70s who donated her $600,000 house to a local university and wishes to remain anonymous. “My plan is to leave everything to charity. I hope that it can be helpful to other people.”