Saving for retirement is especially important for women.  We live longer than men and our employment history is often filled with gaps (from raising children) that are likely to result in lower pay scale than men’s.  It can seem daunting, but there is hope!

This article gives us some tips on where to start to ensure we are ready for retirement when the time comes!

Thank HEAVENS!  What would we do without Diane Owens, our social security guru, to translate the convoluted rules and regs of the Social Security Administration?!  In this Ask The Expert question, Diane untangles for us the all too common situation of a now midlife woman, recently divorced, working but wondering how she’s going to make up in retirement for some lost career years while she was raising kids.

Diane gives us the scoop, and a great example that makes it much clearer!  Be sure to pass this one on to any friends you have who may be in a similar situation. 

I always wondered why my 73 year old mother made such a big deal about working as long as she could at her job with the school district when it seemed to me she'd be ready to retire. Ha!  Now I know!  She understands the Social Security system and I don't.

Thankfully, WomenBloom has Diane Owens to help us understand how things work at the SSA so we can make the best financial decisions for our retirement.  Diane has been with the SSA for over 8 years.  In this article, she simplifies the formula Social Security uses to calculate your retirement benefits and offers some useful tools so you can be planning way ahead.