Having It All · Episode 8 of 10 · 21 min
The Ledger: What a Lifetime of Caregiving Actually Cost
Lower wages, career interruptions, part-time years, smaller pensions and longer lives add up over fifty years to the retirement ledger Boomer women live on now. Median savings at Peak 65 run about 269,000 dollars for men and 185,000 for women. Social Security still carries the architecture of 1939, and poverty among women over 65 tracks marital status almost perfectly.
Who's who
- Robert J. ShapiroEconomist whose 2024 analysis found about two-thirds of Peak Boomers unprepared
- Teresa GhilarducciLabor economist who calls the 401(k) a failed experiment
- Andrew BiggsAEI fellow who argues the retirement crisis is overstated
- Ted BennaConsultant who built the first 401(k) salary-reduction plan
Timeline
- 1939Social Security amendments add wife's and widow's benefits
- 1977Divorced-spouse marriage requirement cut from 20 years to 10
- 1978Revenue Act adds section 401(k) to the tax code
- 1984Retirement Equity Act requires spousal consent to waive survivor annuities
- 2011MetLife study estimates a woman's lifetime caregiving cost at $324,044
- 2024Peak 65 begins: about 4.1 million Americans turn 65 each year
Still debated
Skeptics such as Andrew Biggs argue the retirement crisis is overstated, and the 'two-thirds unprepared' claim depends on adequacy assumptions and comes from an industry-funded group. The $324,044 caregiving figure is a modeled 2011 estimate.