Women lag behind men in terms of how much income they receive from their investments in retirement, with the gender gap currently standing at 57 per cent.
Adviser Salisbury House Wealth found women received less than half the amount of investment income received by men in retirement last year.
While women received £12 a week on average in 2017/18, men received £28.
This represented an investment income gender gap of 57 per cent, which was significantly more than the UK’s gender pay gap of 9 per cent, the firm stated.
The advice firm based its analysis on the latest statistics from the department for Work and Pensions published in March, 2019 and covering the period 2017/18.
Investment income does not count the income from pensions but instead includes interest payments, dividends and capital gains from the sale of securities or other assets that form part of an individual’s investment portfolio.
The gender pay gap from personal pensions is also high, with men receiving almost four times the amount of income from their pensions compared to women.
In 2017/18 men received £19 per week from their pension compared with just £5 for women.
The gap in the amount of weekly retirement income received by men and women also reached its highest level in a decade in the year, at £88, up from £43 ten years ago.
Gap investment income in £ per week:
Source: Salisbury House Wealth
This gender gap in retirement originates from the gender pay gap in the workplace as women cannot afford to invest or save as much as men, or take time out of work to care for children.
Women also tend to put their money in low-risk and lower return investments while men are more likely to take a higher risk which sees them generating higher returns, the advice firm stated.
But Tim Holmes, managing director at Salisbury House Wealth, said there were several solutions that women can take to close the gender inequality in retirement.
Mr Holmes said: “For example, investing more in assets with higher risk-adjusted returns, such as equities, from an early stage could help."
He added: “Unfortunately, some advisers have a tendency to assume women are more risk adverse and advise lower-risk lower-return investments as a result.
"An overweighting of these assets could result in an investment portfolio not generating enough income when needed at retirement.
“When saving for retirement it’s important to save as early as possible – there’s no secret. Working out your savings goals and investing accordingly is also important.”
amy.austin@ft.com
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