More Women Plan For Retirement, But Only 30 Per Cent Expect Their Corpus To Last Beyond 10 Years

More women are taking charge of their retirement planning, but building a corpus that can support them through their later years remains a challenge. While participation in retirement investing has increased, fewer women are confident that their savings will last, according to Axis Max Life Insurance’s Bharosa Talks India Retirement Index Study (IRIS) 6.0, conducted with Kantar.

The study found that 71 per cent of women had started investing for retirement, up from 65 per cent in the previous edition. The increase was higher than among men, whose participation rose from 68 per cent to 70 per cent. Yet, only 30 per cent of women expect their retirement corpus to last for more than 10 years, down from 40 per cent in IRIS 5.0. Among men, the proportion also fell to 30 per cent from 36 per cent.

The findings point to a gap between the willingness to plan for retirement and the confidence that one’s savings will be sufficient to meet future expenses.

Women scored 49 on the overall retirement index, matching men. Their Financial Preparedness Index improved from 50 to 52, suggesting progress in taking financial steps towards retirement. However, women reported accumulating, on average, only 26 per cent of their target retirement corpus, marginally higher than 25 per cent in the previous edition but below the 28 per cent reported by men.

Conservative Investments Dominate

The choice of investments could be one factor to examine. Half of the women surveyed said they held fixed deposits (FDs) or recurring deposits (RDs) specifically for retirement, compared with 44 per cent of men. In contrast, only 27 per cent of women reported holding market-linked investments, including mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), systematic investment plans (SIPs), shares or commodities, against 34 per cent of men.

True, both fixed deposits and recurring deposits offer certainty. However, if you rely on them alone, that may not help your retirement savings grow fast. The appropriate mix of investments will depend on an individual's age, retirement timeline, income needs and ability to take risks.

There is also a gap between knowing that retirement planning matters and knowing how to go about it. Half of the women surveyed believed planning should begin as soon as a person starts earning. However, they put the ideal age to actively start saving at around 32 years. Among women who had not started investing, 23 per cent said they did not know where to begin or how much to save, compared with 19 per cent of men.

Awareness of retirement needs was relatively high, with 62 per cent of women saying they knew how much money they would need to maintain their current lifestyle after retirement, compared with 61 per cent of men. However, knowing the target is only the first step; reaching it requires regular contributions and periodic reviews as income, expenses and goals change.

Early Retirement Appeals To Women

The study also points to changing aspirations. Assuming their financial needs are taken care of, 69 per cent of women said they wanted to retire before the traditional retirement age of 58-60 years. Of these, 45 per cent aspired to achieve financial independence and retire before turning 50.

Health and emotional well-being also feature in retirement expectations. While women's Health Preparedness Index slipped from 47 to 46, 77 per cent believed they would remain fit and healthy during retirement. About 60 per cent undertook preventive health check-ups regularly or occasionally, while half practised yoga or meditation.

On emotional preparedness, 84 per cent felt totally or somewhat secure about receiving support from family and friends during retirement, down from 86 per cent in the previous edition. Meanwhile, 82 per cent worried that changing environmental factors could affect their peace of mind in later life.

Sumit Madan, MD and CEO of Axis Max Life Insurance, said the findings reflected growing ownership of long-term financial well-being among women, while highlighting the need to turn that intent into sustained action.

For women planning their retirement, the message is clear: starting to invest is important, but so is estimating future expenses realistically, building a diversified portfolio suited to individual needs and increasing savings as income grows. These steps can help bridge the gap between the retirement women aspire to and the financial resources they eventually have.