WHAT IS THE NATIONAL EDUCATION 

AND RESOUCE CENTER ON WOMEN AND 

RETIREMENT PLANNING?

The Administration on Aging (AoA), in 

partnership with the Women’s Center on 

Retirement Planning (WISER), maintains the 

National Education and Resource Center on 

Women and Retirement Planning (the Center) 

to provide user-friendly financial education 

and retirement planning tools for low-income 

women, women of color and women with 

limited English-speaking proficiency. 

WISER’s mission is to inform women about 

the issues that affect their long-term financial 

security and to stress the importance of taking 

an active role in planning for their retirement. 

The Center specially tailors educational 

financial tools and information to meet the 

needs of the target population. Through the 

Center’s one-stop-gateway, women have 

access to comprehensive, easily understood, 

information that allows them opportunities to 

plan for income during retirement and to plan 

for long term care as they need it.

WHY DO WE NEED A PROGRAM FOR 

WOMEN?

Today, there are 149.1 million females in the 

United States vs 144.5 million males.While 

men out number women in the 35 to 39 age 

group, women out number men in the 40 to 

44 age group and at succeeding age cohorts. 

At age 85, there are twice as many women as 

men. On average, women who reach age 65 

can expect to live almost 20 more years. In 

fact, predictions indicate that nearly one third 

of women who reach age 65 can expect to 

reach age 90.

Today, half of all women over age 75 live 

alone. Recent data from the U.S. Bureau of 

the Census suggests that women can continue 

to look forward to a greater number of years 

living alone, solely responsible for their own 

well being, on limited incomes. Nearly 4 

million of the 10 million plus women over 

age 55 – women who help form the vanguard 

of the Baby Boom generation – work. In fact, 

women make up 46 percent of the total labor 

force over age 65.i

Studies project that many working women in 

their forties and fifties can look forward to 

smaller pensions than those of men, or to no 

pension at all due to careers that consisted of 

part-time work and/or erratic work histories at 

smaller salaries. Median annual earnings of 

women ages 15 and older, who worked fulltime year-round, in 2004 were $31,223. Some 

women in younger age cohorts who 

participate in more lucrative, non-traditional 

fields such as computer and mathematical

jobs, may earn about $56,000 per year. Still, 

many women today can only look forward to 

circumstances similar to their predecessors 

when it comes to retirement income. Even 

today, women often continue to experience 

erratic work patterns for a number of reasons, 

including to family caregiving responsibilities 

National Education and Resource Center on Women 

and Retirement Planning 
that force them out of the workplace for 

extended periods of time. 

Add to these factors the results of the Lusardi 

study that found women experience a higher 

rate of financial illiteracy than men, and that 

education programs targeted specifically at 

women may be better suited to addressing 

large differences in preferences, savings 

needs, and financial knowledge,ii and the need 

for an center on Women and Retirement 

Planning becomes clear. In fact, a case can be 

made that the programs of the Center are 

critical to the advancement of women’s 

financial literacy and their economic wellbeing.

WHAT DOES THE CENTER DO?

The National Education and Resource Center 

on Women and Retirement serves as a 

national clearinghouse and technical 

assistance center for retirement planning 

information tailored specifically for women. 

Training and materials are tailored to meet the 

special needs of disadvantaged women and 

their families, including limited- English 

speaking individuals.

The Center’s strategy for reaching women 

and their families is to enlist the assistance of 

strategic public-private coalitions as 

volunteers and trainers. WISER’s “Aging 

Network Advisory Council,” which is 

composed of representatives of 15 

organizations from across the country 

promotes nationwide outreach on financial 

education and retirement planning through the 

formation of strategic partnerships. Coalition 

memberships include national and local 

women’s organizations, local government 

agencies, representatives of the business and 

financial sectors and the National Network on 

Aging.

Through these diverse coalitions, the Center is 

providing women with needed access to 

financial expertise free of charge. Information 

is offered through financial and retirement 

planning programs such as model programs, 

and workshops tailored to meet their special 

needs, and publications in hard copy and web 

based formats. Materials include booklets 

such as “Financial Steps for Caregivers,” and 

fact sheets such as “How to Start Saving” 

available in English, Spanish and Korean.

WHAT HAS CENTER ACCOMPLISHED?

The Center provides educational financial and 

retirement planning information through the 

following:

Workshops: Over the course of its operation, 

the Center has conducted more than 20,000 

workshops on strategies to access financial 

and retirement planning information for 

women. In one three month period The Center 

presented 150 workshops that reached 

approximately 3,000 women nationwide.

Newsletter: During the same period, through 

their newsletter, The Center disseminated 

over 10,000 pieces of financial and retirement 

planning information tailored to the specific 

needs of hard-to-reach women.

Web Site: The WISER Web site contains 

information of importance to women in 

categories ranging from money basics, 

investments, pensions and social security to 

health, caregiving and long-term care.

Publications: Several publications including 

a monthly newsletter, 72 fact sheets, materials 

available in Spanish, Portuguese, Korean and 

Vietnamese, present concise, easy-to-
understand information on important financial 

topics.

HOW CAN YOU CONTACT THE CENTER?

The Center web site can be accessed at:

Web Site: http://www.wiserwomen.org or it 

can be reached by telephone at:

202-393-5452

WISER, The Women’s Institute for 

Retirement Planning is located at:

1146 - 19th Street, N.W., Suite 700

Washington, DC 20201

1.Older Women Workers, ages 55 and over, U.S. DoL, 

Women’s Bureau Fact Sheet , March 2006 

іі.http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/49388, Lusardi, Annamaria, 

Planning and Financial Literacy: How Do Women Fare?, 2006 

Retirement Research Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 

MI 

For more information about ACL

U.S. Department of Health and Human 

Services, Administration for Community 

Living, Washington DC 20201

Phone: (202) 619 – 0724

Fax: (202) 357 – 3555

Email: ACLinfo@acl.hhs.gov

Web: http://www.aoa.gov