Will I Be OK Financially?

Updated: Sept 20, 2026

Takeaways

• Women earned about 84 cents for every dollar men earned in 2025, according to the Census Bureau, and live nearly five years longer on average.
• In a hypothetical example, an 11-year caregiving break cuts a woman’s projected retirement savings from about $2.8 million to about $1.7 million, less than half of what a male peer with the same degree accumulates.
• Dollars saved early in a career carry the most weight because they have the longest runway to compound, which matters most if a career pause is possible.
• In retirement, financial security depends on a sustainable withdrawal rate and on which accounts you draw from first.
• The answer to “Will I be OK?” gets clearer when you plan savings and tax decisions together as one picture instead of in separate silos.

“Will I be OK financially?” In our experience, it’s the question women raise more than any other when we talk about money, and it’s a smart one. We hear it from women at every income level, and it rests on real numbers. Financial security for women has to account for lower average pay and more years out of the paid workforce. On top of that, women’s savings usually have to last longer.

The good news is that a fear grounded in facts can be answered with facts. Below, we look at where the worry comes from and what the headwinds cost in actual dollars. Then we lay out the specific questions that tell you whether you’re on track, both while you’re working and once you retire.

Why “Will I Be OK?” is the Question We Hear Most

Picture a hypothetical client: a 48-year-old executive who recently became the primary earner in her household. She maxes out her 401(k), has a healthy emergency fund and just received her largest equity grant yet. On paper she’s doing everything right, and she still can’t say for sure whether it’s enough.

In our experience, the conversation can start almost anywhere. One woman comes in to talk about a new equity grant, another about a parent who needs more care. Underneath both, the question is usually the same: “Will I be OK financially?”

Often it comes up before we’ve looked at a single number, and it outweighs any specific question about debt or investing.

The question isn’t limited to one stage of life. Women early in their careers ask it, as do women relaunching after years of caring for children or aging parents. So do women in their 40s and 50s at the peak of their earning power, which is a reminder that income alone doesn’t make the worry go away.

The River and the Pond: Why Money Can Feel Scarce

Part of the fear is emotional. Sallie Krawcheck, former CFO of Citigroup and a longtime advocate for women’s financial independence, has observed that many men see money as a river while many women see it as a pond. A river keeps moving and feels abundant. A pond is fixed, so every withdrawal feels like it makes the pond smaller.

That can sound like a tidy generalization. Look at the facts behind it, though, and treating money as a pond starts to look like a rational response to the numbers women face.

Three Financial Headwinds Women Face

1. Women still earn less than men. Women working full time, year-round earned 9 cents for every dollar men earned in 2025, per the Census Bureau. Bureau of Labor Statistics weekly data puts the figure closer to 82 cents. The gap is wider for Black and Hispanic women, and it compounds over a career. (More in our post on the gender pay gap.)
2. Women spend more time out of the paid workforce. Women are far more likely than men to step away from paid work to raise children or care for an aging parent. Every year out is a year without retirement plan contributions, and often without the employer match that comes with them.
3. Women live longer.S. women had a life expectancy of 81.4 years in 2024, compared with 76.5 for men. Married women are also more likely to outlive a spouse, which means more years of retirement funded by one set of assets.

Each of these is familiar on its own. What people tend to miss is what happens to the dollars when all three stack up.

Thinking through what these headwinds mean for your own plan? Let’s talk about your complete financial picture. Schedule a complimentary intro call.

What the gender wealth gap costs: The Jack and Jill example

Here’s a deliberately simple hypothetical. Jack and Jill earn MBAs from the same school with the same grades. Jack starts at $150,000. Jill starts at 80 percent of that, or $120,000. Both save 15 percent of their salary every year from age 27 to 67, earn a 6 percent real return, and never get a raise (that’s the simplified part).

Now Jill steps out of the workforce from 32 to 43 to care for young children and then her parents. We’ll make the generous assumption that she returns at the same $120,000 salary.

Hypothetical projected savings at age 67

• Jack: about $3.5 million
• Jill, no career break: about $2.8 million
• Jill, 11-year career break: about $1.7 million, less than half of Jack’s total

Look at where Jill’s $1.7 million comes from. The five years she saved before the break grow to roughly $780,000, almost as much as the $915,000 she builds over the 24 years after she returns. Early dollars do outsized work.

Note: Hypothetical illustration for educational purposes only. Assumes end-of-year contributions of 15% of salary, a constant 6% annual return after inflation, and no salary growth. Actual returns vary from year to year and can be negative. The figures also leave out taxes and fees. The example does not represent a specific investment or client and is not a guarantee of future results.

Questions worth asking while you’re earning

1. How much are my early savings really worth? Because early dollars compound the longest, saving more in your first working years can help offset the impact of a future career pause.
2. How long might my retirement last? You could work 35 years and then live 25 or more in retirement. Each working year has to fund that year’s life and set aside a meaningful share for later.
3. What is my number? Your number is the amount you’d need at retirement to fund the life you want with very low odds of running out. It will never be exact. But if you’re saving $10,000 a year and need to save $50,000, you want to know that now. Our retirement budget worksheet is a good place to start.

If you’ve already taken time away, the math still works in your favor from here. Our guide to going back to work covers how to rebuild savings and benefits after a break, and many women in the sandwich generation find it helps to plan for caregiving costs before they arrive.

Here’s a hypothetical example of how that can play out. Imagine a woman earning $120,000 who expects to step away for three years in her early 40s to care for a parent. Under the same assumptions as the Jack and Jill example, those three years would cost her about $230,000 at age 67. Under those same assumptions, raising her savings rate from 15 to 25 percent for the four years before the break would close that gap. Real-world results would depend on actual returns and her circumstances.

Financial security for women in retirement

Once the paychecks stop, the questions shift from how much to save to how to spend it down without running short.

1. What’s a sustainable withdrawal rate for me? The right rate depends on your age and how much you plan to spend relative to your portfolio, and it’s worth revisiting as either changes. Our post on retirement withdrawals walks through the trade-offs.
2. Which accounts should I draw from, and when? The order in which you tap taxable accounts versus tax-advantaged ones like IRAs and Roth IRAs can change how much of your savings goes to taxes over a long retirement.
3. Can my lifestyle survive a long downturn? A cash needs analysis can help you hold enough reserves to reduce the chance that a prolonged market decline forces you to sell investments at a low point.

Unless personal finance is your profession or your hobby, nobody teaches you this. Without it, confidence about the future is hard to come by, which is why so many capable women still wonder whether they’ll be OK. Building financial confidence starts with getting these answers in front of you.

Why the right advisor relationship matters to women

Getting answers usually means talking to someone in the financial industry. In our conversations, many women describe past experiences that left them frustrated, such as fees they didn’t fully understand or advisors who spoke mostly to a spouse.

Part of the confusion comes from how the industry is set up. Not every financial professional is held to the same standard, and some are paid through commissions on the products they recommend. Brighton Jones is a registered investment adviser and acts as a fiduciary for its clients, which means we have a legal duty to act in your best interest and to disclose conflicts of interest.

One question worth starting with: “If money weren’t a worry, what would you be doing differently five years from now?” It shifts the conversation from account balances to the life the money is supposed to support, and the answer usually shapes the plan more than any statement does.

From Pond to River: How a Personal CFO Approach Helps

The headwinds above show up in different forms at every stage of life, so they can’t be handled with a single decision. Knowing whether you’re on track means connecting decisions that usually get made separately, such as how much to save during a high-earning year and how your tax strategy shapes what you can sustainably spend in retirement.

That coordination is the core of our Personal CFO approach. Your financial plan and your tax strategy are handled by one team looking at the same picture, so a career pause or an inheritance gets folded into the whole plan instead of sitting in its own silo. Through our Women’s Wealth practice and the Women Living a Richer Life program, we work with women at every stage, from first job to widowhood, to turn those headwinds into a plan with real numbers behind it.

Two women with the same income can need very different plans. The goal is a plan that fits your actual life, so that the next time you ask “Will I be OK?” you have a clearer answer.

Frequently asked questions

How much less do women earn than men?

Women working full time, year round earned 83.9 cents for every dollar men earned in 2025, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Bureau of Labor Statistics weekly earnings data puts the figure closer to 82 cents. The gap is wider for Black and Hispanic women and compounds into a larger gap in lifetime savings.

Why do women often need more retirement savings than men?

Women live longer on average, about 81.4 years versus 76.5 for men in 2024, so their savings may need to last several more years. Lower average earnings and more time out of the workforce also mean fewer years of contributions, which leaves less time for compounding to work.

How does a career break affect retirement savings?

A career break removes contributions and employer matches during the years they would have had the longest time to grow. In a hypothetical example, an 11-year break reduced projected savings at 67 from about $2.8 million to about $1.7 million. Saving more before and after a break can narrow the gap.

What does it mean when a financial advisor is a fiduciary?

A fiduciary advisor has a legal duty to act in the client’s best interest and to disclose conflicts of interest. Registered investment advisers owe that duty throughout the advisory relationship. Other financial professionals may be held to different standards, so asking whether an advisor acts as a fiduciary at all times is a reasonable first question.

About the Author: Joe Volcheck, CFP® is a Lead Advisor at Brighton Jones. He helps high-income professionals and families design tax-efficient investment strategies and retirement plans aligned with their values and long-term goals.

Disclosure: Please remember that past performance may not be indicative of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Brighton Jones, LLC is neither a law firm nor a certified public accounting firm and no portion of the blog content should be construed as legal or accounting advice. To the extent that you have any questions regarding the applicability of any specific issue discussed above to your individual situation, you are encouraged to consult with the professional advisor of your choosing.