Sales & Marketing | 02.09.26
Beyond Assumptions: What MIT Research Reveals About Women and Retirement Planning
by: Chelsea Joyner, Key Account Manager, MassMutual Strategic Distributors
When it comes to preparing women for retirement, the financial services industry has long operated on assumptions. Women over-spend. Women are too timid to invest. Women rely on their partners for financial decisions. But what if everything we thought we knew was wrong?
Recent research from the MIT AgeLab in collaboration with MassMutual is challenging these outdated narratives and revealing a far more nuanced picture of how women think about, plan for and envision their financial futures. The findings aren't just eye-opening — they represent a critical pivot point for financial professionals looking to better serve this growing segment.
The Opportunity Is Massive — and Growing
Let's start with the numbers. Women already control 51% of personal wealth in the United States, and that figure is only climbing.¹ By 2030, women are projected to control over $30 trillion in assets.² This isn't a future trend — it's today's reality.
Yet despite this economic power, only 28% of U.S. women report feeling very or mostly comfortable making investment decisions.³ Even more concerning: 30% of women don't think they'll ever be financially prepared enough to retire.⁴ There's a clear gap between the wealth women control and the confidence they feel in managing it.
Retirement Looks Different Across Generations
One of the most striking findings from the MIT AgeLab research is how women's visions of retirement differ dramatically by age. Women ages 45 and older often view retirement as peaceful, but they also anticipate significant caregiving roles. Unlike the traditional "long vacation" image of retirement, these women recognize they're likely to balance personal fulfillment with caregiving responsibilities — for aging parents, adult children or grandchildren.
Younger women under 45 take a markedly different view. Their language around later life centers on "achievement, success, wealth, complete." They're focused on building something substantial, not just maintaining it. This generational divide has real implications for how we approach financial planning conversations.
When asked about their vision for later life in the MIT study, women across all ages discussed a range of priorities: prioritizing health as both a goal and a concern, navigating family health history and insurance needs, planning for general "what-ifs" about potential changes, balancing career pivots with work-life priorities, and in many cases, challenging traditional views of aging altogether.⁵
The Five Financial Priorities That Matter Most
The research identified five core financial priorities that women consistently emphasize — and they might surprise you.
Building and Transferring Wealth tops the list. Women aren't just thinking about themselves; they're thinking about legacy.⁶ As one 62-year-old divorced mother and caregiver shared: "I went from just handling my own to handling my own, plus my two kids, because they started working when they were like seven, and now I handle absolutely everything. I handle mine, my kids and my mother's and all the household expenses, the insurance, investments, everything…it's a lot to keep track of."⁵
Investing remains an area where confidence lags behind capability. A 53-year-old single woman and caregiver captured this tension: "I've done a good job saving since I was young, 401k as soon as I could…I think I'm in a good spot, but you just never know. The market could crash tomorrow. You don't know what could happen, but I do obsess over it."⁵
Planning for a Comfortable Retirement looks different when you're a woman. Women typically live longer than men and may not always have access to traditional retirement plans, creating unique financial challenges.⁷ The dream often includes travel and family time, but it's tempered by practical concerns about longevity and healthcare.
Tax Planning emerged as a top area of interest for 44% of women surveyed, with many expressing a desire to understand and manage their tax obligations independently.⁸ As one participant recalled learning tax preparation from her father at her first job: "I have never paid anyone to do my taxes as my circumstances change."⁵
Life Insurance Coverage represents perhaps the most significant gap. A striking 45% of women report living with a life insurance coverage gap.⁹ As a 65-year-old divorced mother put it: "Because I'm recently divorced, like aging alone, to me, is scary, you know. I worry about long-term health problems, and then I wouldn't want to be a burden to my children."⁵
What Women Want From Their Financial Professionals
When it comes to selecting a financial advisor, women have clear priorities. According to LIMRA's 2023 Insurance Barometer Study, trustworthiness ranks first at 66%, followed by experience at 60%, and communication skills at 51%.¹⁰
But here's what the data doesn't tell you: how to actually demonstrate those qualities in practice. How do you build trust? How do you communicate differently? How do you create the judgment-free space that allows for honest conversations about money, fear and future planning?
These are exactly the kinds of questions we'll be unpacking at the upcoming BISA conference breakout session. The MIT research gave us the "what" and the "why" — the session will focus on the "how."
A Call to Set Aside Assumptions
Perhaps the most important takeaway from the MIT AgeLab research is this: women are not a monolith. Their financial needs, concerns and visions for the future are as diverse as they are. The 45-year-old entrepreneur building a business has vastly different priorities than the 65-year-old recently divorced woman planning for aging alone. The married mother planning family travel has different concerns than the single caregiver managing multiple generations' finances.
What they share is a desire to be heard, understood and supported by financial professionals who see them as individuals, not stereotypes. They want advisors who understand that fear and prudence aren't the same as timidity. That caregiving responsibilities aren't obstacles to wealth building — they're part of the complex reality that must be factored into any comprehensive financial plan.
The research makes it clear: women already control the majority of personal wealth in this country. The question isn't whether they're capable of managing it — they already are. The question is whether the financial services industry is ready to meet them where they are, with solutions and strategies that reflect their actual lived experiences.
Learn More at the BISA Annual Conference
This article only scratches the surface of what the MIT AgeLab research reveals about women's financial priorities and how financial professionals can better serve them.
Join me at the BISA conference in March for a comprehensive breakout session where we'll dive deeper into practical strategies for partnering in women's financial growth—including specific action steps you can implement immediately to build trust, improve communication, and address the unique challenges women face in financial planning.
In the meantime, explore additional insights and tools at MassMutual Strategic Distributors' Women Investors Resource Page or call our experts at 888-299-5316.
Endnotes
¹ The 2024 Impact of Women-Owned Businesses
² McKinsey & Company: Women as the next wave of growth in US Wealth Management, July 2020
³ Bank of America: Rising Wealth of Women
⁴ Fidelity Investments Study: "Women Tapping Into Their Financial Superpowers"
⁵ MIT AgeLab Focus Groups, Fall 2025
⁶ The 2024 Impact of Women-Owned Businesses
⁷ Fidelity Investments Study: "Women Tapping Into Their Financial Superpowers"
⁸ MassMutual Affluent Consumer Wealth Acquisition Study
⁹ 2024 LIMRA/LOMA Insurance Barometer Study
¹⁰ LIMRA's 2023 Insurance Barometer Study
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