Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Innovative Online Book Targets Women Planning Financial Future

"The road to financial security begins with the understanding of why and how you need to plan for your retirement.” Teresa Heinz Kerry


Heinz Family Foundation/ Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement Releases “How To” on Retirement...

Washington, DC – The Heinz Family Philanthropies and the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER) today announced the release of an innovative online book entitled, What Women Need to Know About Retirement. Available for free on the Internet, this 76 page ebook will provide the reader with a blueprint to both get started planning a retirement and to grow that investment.

“Today we are offering a free online publication to help ensure that all Americans have access to sound financial planning advise that is often too expensive and out of reach for working families,” said WISER Chairman Jeffrey R. Lewis. “In particular, we are targeting women with this free book with the understanding that women often sacrifice retirement planning as the result of their traditional roles as mothers and family caretakers. We hope that this substantive guide allows women to get what they need to know without having to pay for a book, and to hopefully use those dollars instead towards their retirement future.”

What Women Need to Know About Retirement contains seven easy-to-read chapters, each written by an expert on retirement security issues. The book was written as an acknowledgment of the fact that poverty in old age is most often the face of a woman, for example:

· Two-thirds of working women earn less than $30,000 a year.
· Nearly half of all women work in low-paying jobs that do not offer any retirement plans or 401(k) plan.
· The median income in 2004 for retired women was $12,080 compared to men’s income of $21,102.
· Social Security continues to be the only source of income for 30% of non-married women over 65 and 46% rely on it for 90% of their income.

“Over the years we have found that most people ---and most women--- simply don’t have enough information about how to build a secure retirement. It doesn’t have to be this way,” said WISER Chairman Emeritus Teresa Heinz Kerry. “While there are no quick fixes, or simple solutions, the road to financial security begins with the understanding of why and how you need to plan for your retirement.”

The book is available to download or read online at WiserWomen.org

To your retirement... may it be a good one!

Heidi

Heidi Richards, Founder & CEOwww.WECAI.org - “Helping Women Do Business on and off the WEB™”

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