More women are investing for retirement, but fewer believe their money will last, according to the women-specific findings of the sixth Bharosa Talks India Retirement Index Study (IRIS 6.0), released today by Axis Max Life Insurance in partnership with Kantar.
The share of women who have started investing for retirement rose to 71% from 65% in IRIS 5.0, outpacing the rise among men, from 68% to 70%. However, only 30% of women expect their retirement corpus to last more than 10 years, down from 40% last year. The fall was sharper than among men, whose figure dropped from 36% to 30%.
Women say they have built 26% of their target retirement corpus on average, up marginally from 25% in IRIS 5.0 but below the 28% reported by men.
Safe options preferred
Women lean towards conservative products. About 50% say they hold fixed or recurring deposits (FDs/RDs) specifically for retirement, against 44% of men. Only 27% claim to hold risk-based products such as mutual funds, ETFs, SIPs, stocks/shares or commodities, compared with 34% of men.
Among women yet to start investing, 23% say they do not know where to start or how much to save, against 19% of men.
Early retirement ambitions
Assuming their financial needs are addressed, 69% of women want to retire before the traditional age of 58–60. Some 45% want financial independence and retirement before 50.
Half of women believe retirement planning should begin as soon as one starts earning. Asked for the ideal age to start saving actively, they said about 32 years, close to the 31 years cited by men.
Some 62% of women know how much they will need to maintain their current lifestyle in retirement, marginally ahead of men at 61%. The women’s figure rose from 61% last year, while men’s fell from 63%.
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Women scored 49 on the IRIS 6.0 index, on par with men. Their Financial Preparedness Index rose from 50 to 52. Health Preparedness slipped from 47 to 46, and Emotional Preparedness stood at 57 against 58 last year.
Health and emotional outlook
Some 77% of women believe they will stay fit and healthy in retirement, compared with 74% of men. About 60% have preventive health check-ups regularly or occasionally, in line with men at 59%.
Half of women practise yoga or meditation, compared with 45% of men and 46% nationally. Some 41% take part in regular physical activity, on par with men and the national figure.
On emotional preparedness, 84% of women feel totally or somewhat secure about support from family and friends in retirement, down from 86% in IRIS 5.0. Among men, the figure fell from 88% to 83%. Some 82% of women worry that changing environmental factors could disturb their peaceful life in retirement, compared with 80% of men.
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Sumit Madan, MD and CEO of Axis Max Life Insurance, said the findings indicate that more women are taking ownership of retirement planning, while the gap between their investment participation and long-term financial preparedness remains.
“More women than men claimed investing in FDs/RDs specifically for retirement (50% versus 44%), while many are also aiming to achieve financial independence at an earlier stage of life. Together, these trends reflect a growing sense of ownership and agency over their long-term financial well-being,” Madan said.
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