Retirement savings habits of women vs. men: Vanguard study

New research shows that women tend to save more of their income for retirement than men, but still trail them in 401(k) account values.

The average 401(k) balance among men in 2025 was $194,597, while for women it was $146,476, according to Vanguard’s new 2026 report. How Does America Save Money? The report examined data from nearly 5 million retirement savers across more than 1,300 workplace plans.

But the report shows that women demonstrate better savings habits overall.

“At comparable income levels, women are more likely to participate in plans and typically save at slightly higher rates,” Jeff Clark, Vanguard’s head of defined contribution research and author of the report, said in an email.

“They also tend to invest more consistently by using professionally managed options and trading less frequently, behaviors that are linked to stronger long-term results,” Clark said.

A separate study showed that women’s investment portfolios tend to outperform men’s. For example, on average their investments outpace those of men 40 basis points or 0.4% based on Loyalty Investments‘ Analysis of the annual performance of 5.2 million accounts from January 2011 to December 2020, and this trend continues.

More recently, 2025 Wells Fargo research It shows that women earn similar or better returns on their investments while taking less risk compared to men.

Experts say there are other factors at play that could lead to lower balances. For starters, women working full-time earn about 81% of what their male counterparts earn. According to the Ministry of Labor.

Other contributing issues may include “working part time or quitting work altogether for a period of time to be a caregiver for children, aging parents or a sick spouse,” said certified financial planner Patti Black, a financial advisor at Savant Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama.

According to a study, most caregivers are women 2025 joint report By AARP and the National Alliance for Care, a nonprofit advocacy and research group.

Leaving a job to care for others could mean missing out on the opportunity to put money into a retirement account and receive matching contributions from the employer. There may also be a “motherhood penalty” – research found that women’s earnings may decline after they become mothers.

But “while women have lower average balances due to income differences, this gap narrows significantly when comparing participants with similar income levels,” Clark said.

For example, among retirement savers earning between $30,000 and $149,999, women’s average account balances were within 10% of men’s, according to the Vanguard report. For those in the $30,000 to $49,999 range, women’s average balance ($31,806) was higher than men’s $31,288.

Meanwhile, both men and women have similar asset allocations in the Vanguard study. For example, they both have an average of 6% of their assets in bonds and 3% in cash. Additionally, on average, 50% of women’s assets are in target date funds. compared to 42% of male businesses. On the other hand, men have more diversified equity funds with 42%, while this rate is 37% for women.

But outside of retirement accounts, some women keep too much cash in a regular bank account, Black said. In other words, some of that money could probably go into retirement savings, he said.

“They have a rainy day fund, which is a ‘Noah’s Ark flood’ type of emergency fund,” Black said. “We don’t need that emergency fund.”

He said it’s OK to take a year’s worth of expenses in cash, but “make sure it stays where you get at least some interest.”