Is it Easier for Singles to Save For Retirement?

When it comes to retirement planning, who has it better, singles to married couples?

The answer -- singles, according to many Americans -- can be based more on perception than reality. Singles can find it harder to save for retirement than the traditional wisdom suggests. Singles are actually significantly less prepared for and confident about retiring, a study says.

A recent survey by Schwab(SCHW) looked at the attitudes as well as behaviors of singles as well as married people around retirement. It found that many singles (69%) as well as a majority of married couples (53%) think being single is an advantage when it comes to retirement planning.

This attitude isn't backed up by the facts, warns Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, Charles Schwab senior vice president. The same study found that singles are actually significantly less prepared and less confident than married individuals in their retirement readiness -- 85% of married Americans have already began to save, compared with only 67% of singles.

Those stats can get even worse given a weak economy as well as rampant unemployment that has left many Americans in their 20s underpaid as well as frequently moving back in with their parents.

There is also a growing population of singles. Census figures show there are record numbers of singles in America -- nearly 100 million last year, or one-third of the population.

The study also found that 58% of married Americans say it would be easier to decide whenever to retire without a spouse to consider; 62% of those couples say choosing where to retire would be easier if they had been single.

The details of when and exactly where to retire, however, are less problematic than being prepared for that stage of life.

Despite the perception that "single people have it created," they have the very big hurdle of having only you income.


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