Women Are a Quarter Million Dollars Short of Retirement

Lower earnings and longer lives—it's a powerful one-two punch, and it threatens to keep women on the ropes in retirement.

A recent study measured the retirement savings divide between 45-year-old men and women. It found that women, on average, are more than $268,000 short of what they need to retire comfortably at 65. For the average man, it's $212,000. For every $100 a man sets aside, a woman needs to set aside $126. That's a 26 percent gender gap.