Women appear to be more prepared than men to weather any additional cutbacks in Social Security or employer-provided retirement plans.

Nearly half (47%) of affluent investors have a well defined investment strategy for their retirement savings. That percentage is skewed, however, by the disproportionate share of women who have made such preparations. Some 51% of the women surveyed have a well defined investment strategy for their retirement savings, compared to 36% of the men.

The willingness of women to plan reflects their optimism regarding investment choice and retirement preparedness. Nearly two-thirds (65%) are confident their investment choices will produce a good return, a view shared by only 40% of the men.

Women also are more optimistic than men about their standard of living throughout retirement; 66% of the women expect to have enough income to be able to live comfortably, compared to 60% of the men.

While investors overall remain cautious about investing, women are more than twice as likely as men (43% vs. 20%) to take a chance with their retirement savings to increase their investment returns. Previous Spectrem studies have found that men tend to be the greater risk takers.

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