European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 16, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday april 16, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 17 women Retiree focus on ways to enrich Golden years by Glenn Collins new York times w Omen who Are retired Are becoming. The focus of new and growing attention from Public policymakers and  reasons include the increasing numbers of women in the work Force in recent decades women s greater longevity and the predicted effects of their dramatically growing numbers. Government statistics show that As a group the women who Are currently retiring Are in better health receive More retirement benefits Are More Likely to have supplemental pensions and other assets and Are More Likely to have retired because they wanted to compared with previous generations of working women. Nevertheless retirement experts underscore concerns about the poverty of Large numbers of women age 65 and older reinforcing fears that with their longer life expectancy Many elderly women May outlive their assets. Currently retired women have significantly lower benefits asset income and pension Protection than men do. Women of my generation were discriminated against All their working lives said Elizabeth Mansfield a 70-year-old who retired five years ago and recently started working again part time in Philadelphia. That s the Way it was when we grew up in the depression added Mansfield who worked All her life after graduating from College and never married. We just Learned to live with it. But it s just appalling to realize what it does to your retirement income in comparison with men s. A lot of women living on their husband s social Security entitlement Are much better off than a woman who worked her whole  but although women account for a majority of the elderly poor impoverishment i by no Means the Only female retirement option. I know that Many retired women have Good reason to complain said Ella Wright of Media pa., a former Oil company executive who retired three years ago at age 60. But i feel fortunate to be Able to say that i still feel As if i m on a Long enjoyable  on the whole women usually earn lower salaries than men which limits their retirement benefits and since benefits Are calculated on average lifetime earnings time spent at Home to raise children reduces Erma Bombeck poverty rates persons 65 and Over by sex 1970-1083 1870 78 the 77 78 78 8o 81 82 83 source Bureau of the census both pension and social Security income. But there Are Strong positive aspects to current retirement trends. Among both women and men who Are currently retiring fewer have incomes below the poverty threshold than in earlier decades and More have supplemental pensions or some asset income according to surveys conducted by the social Security administration. In addition the number of unmarried women receiving pension benefits has been increasing dramatically according to the social Security administration s most recent estimates. About 43 percent of widowed divorced and single women currently retiring have pensions compared with 25 percent in 1970. Researchers have also dispelled the longstanding myth that retired women Are Only marginally committed to work and that retirement is not As significant a transition in their lives As in men s. Work is As meaningful to women As it is to men and women Are similar in their ability to adjust successfully to retirement. Until recently retired women were a group Little studied by social scientists. In fact research on any facet of female retirement was practically unheard of before 1975, according to a study of retirement literature  Szin Ovacz assistant professor of sociology at Florida state University. Researchers thought that retirement was for men and widowhood for women said Rose Dobrof director of the Brookdale Center on aging at Hunter College in new York. In fact about the Only time you heard about the retirement decision in relation to women was in bitter jokes you know like my husband retired and i now have half the income and twice the time " sheer numbers Are one reason so much new attention is being Given to women and retirement. There Are More retired women than at any time in the nation s history though estimates of their numbers vary. Not illustration of the 18.5 million women age 62 and older currently receiving social Security benefits 10 million Are receiving retirement benefits amounting to $49 billion a year. Many women were engaged in unpaid labor like homemaking child rearing and care for elderly relatives and did not qualify either. But even based on conservative estimates retired women Are an increasingly important Factor in society and their significance will grow in future years said sen. John Glenn of Ohio the ranking democratic member of the special committee on aging who has held hearings on older women and retirement issues. Increasingly women have become the focus of the rapidly growing $50-million-a-year pre retirement planning Industry a once male oriented business that is substantially changing by Selling women a variety of investment services and offering retirement advice tailored to women. More and More women Are realizing that it s important to Start planning Early enough so you can be Able to flow into retirement gracefully said Phoebe Bailey who formerly coordinated pre retirement planning from new England through Delaware for the american association of retired persons until she herself retired last july. Women need to be told just As men have been she said that you Don t want to retire from your Job but rather you want to retire to your new  Bailey is in demand around the country for her training programs and lectures on retirement. Women retiring in future decades will have much to look Forward to despite the problems of longevity for some. Women s average retirement benefits will be greater than they Are now and an increasing number of women will receive pensions. These changes will also Benefit couples in the future the share of retired couples income contributed from the wife is Likely to increase said or. Charles f. Longino jr., director of the Center for social research in aging at the University of Miami in Florida. If there s one thing parents agree on it that if their kids took their advice they d have better  charge ahead of them like a Sno plow on an uncharted Road pushing Back the obstacles alerting them to icy patches and expertly directing them through detours. And do they listen do they profit from our Wisdom and experience did Imelda Marcos leave Home without her american express card i said to one of my kids the other Day Why Don t you take our advice and live your life the Way we planned it mom he said remember when i was a Little kid and you told me to jump into your arms and you d catch me and i did and you did Toof c Mon i said i thought you were going to wait until i counted  of he continued what about the time i slipped out of the House one night and went fishing when you told me not to and when you spanked me you said it was going to Hurt you worse than it Hurt me i was devastated i said. At least you could sit  that s not fair i said. Those Are isolated cases. Besides your father and i Are not asking you to do anything unrealistic. All we re suggesting is that you save 10 percent of your salary get married have a boy and a girl buy a House make a few investments and take Nice  ill do All of those things he said. When i pressed. After i borrow from the credit Union to get a fan Belt for my  your trouble is that you Don t have  i have goals he said. Like what like a fan Belt for my  look at this i said pushing a copy of a newspaper under his nose. Here s a kid who is Only three years older than you Are and he went  with what?4 with his own software company that is Worth $50 million in Stock. And Here s one who was 25 years old when he was named to the Forbes 400. If you had just studied business in College like we told you. Don t you remember How we told you technology was the wave of the future i remember the exact Day he said. I left an Iron plugged in and Burnt it  your father and i Only want to do what is Best for you. We re not asking you to do what we want but Only what we know will make you  he thought a moment. In t Queen Elizabeth your age mom i nodded. When she was 26 she had her own country. What were you doing at 26?" i changed the subject quickly. To admit i was sorting socks in a Utility room in Centerville Ohio would take away my Edge. C 1986, los Angeles times Syndicate