How to Be a Financially Independent Women
5 Min Read | Updated: May 2, 2025
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Financial independence often requires planning and hard work, but there are unique challenges women may face. See steps to help you reach your long-term goals.
At-A-Glance
- The gender pay gap can make it harder for some women to achieve financial independence.
- Women who live to age 65 have a fair chance of living into their 90s.
- There are strategies women can adopt today to deal with these financial challenges.
The desire to achieve financial independence is a goal that needs no hard sell.
The goal of being financially free – supporting yourself today and building security for your future – has appeal for everyone, yet it is important for women to double down on how to become financially independent.
For starters, there’s the issue of the gender wage gap; as of 2022, women on average still earned just 92 cents for every dollar men earned.1 Then there’s the high cost of caregiving, as women over 55 spend 182 hours a year caring for family and friends.2
And there’s also the longevity issue. Women, on average, live longer than men.3 That intensifies the need to make smart retirement-planning decisions today.
Following a few key strategies can help women achieve financial independence.
Don’t Immediately Settle for the Pay or Raise Offered
Salary is about a lot more than the income you’ll have today. It becomes the anchor for future raises. For example, if your employer matches your contributions to a workplace retirement plan, it affects how big that match will be. Today’s salary also will play a role in how big your Social Security benefit will be. Eligible for a pension? Salary is also used to calculate that benefit.
Fixing the gender pay gap ultimately requires employers to change what they are doing that allows it to exist in the first place. But it’s also important to learn to negotiate your salary.
Women are more likely than men to feel uncomfortable asking for a higher salary.4 One key to negotiating is having a strong case that you can present authentically. There are online resources for how to build a fact-based case for getting paid more. There are also online workshops, and coaches who can help boost your negotiating confidence.
Carefully Plan for Time Off
It isn’t just about the lost salary; taking time off to raise a family or care for a loved one may mean a smaller rise in wage growth over a career, as well as reducing future retirement income. A free online interactive tool from the Center for American Progress provides an estimate of the financial hit from taking time off that takes your age and current salary into account. For instance, let’s say a 30-year-old woman who started working at age 22 earns $65,000 a year and plans to take off two years beginning at age 32. She is estimated to lose a total of $357,120 in career earnings and retirement benefits.
If you have a partner, thinking through the long-term cost of time off might open a conversation about sharing caregiving in a way that does not necessitate anyone making a full-time exit from a job. If you’re in a family planning stage, maybe consider seeking out employers that provide the most generous care benefits. An employer comfortable with work-from-home or hybrid work might also be a solution, as the cost of care while you’ve got your home office door shut is likely to be less than walking away from a job completely.
Take Steps Today to Be Kind to a Much Older You
Life expectancy is one of those stats you’ve surely run into, but maybe you haven’t fully appreciated its message.
According to estimates from the Social Security Administration, a 65-year-old woman in average health today has a life expectancy to age 85.5
In terms of maintaining financial independence through retirement, ideally, you want to plan for the possibility of living past 84 – just to be on the safe side.
Some steps you can take today to help your future-self maintain financial independence:
- Save as much as you can for retirement. Now that you’ve got a clear-eyed understanding of longevity probabilities, consider upping your savings in a workplace plan, such as a 401(k), or in your Individual Retirement Account (IRA). If you’re married and not working (for a salary, that is), you may be eligible for a Spousal IRA, as long as your partner has earned income.6 For 2025, that’s another $7,000 your household can tuck away for retirement if you are younger than age 50.7
- Invest for an older you. Bank savings and checking accounts can be a great place to stash money to pay today’s bills and cover unexpected expenses. But those accounts are not ideal for long-term retirement savings, as they may not pay enough interest to offset inflation. That’s where investing in stocks becomes crucial. Over long periods, stocks may provide best returns.
- Plan for the benefit of the surviving spouse. If you are married, all retirement planning decisions should be made with an eye toward ensuring the financial independence of the surviving spouse. That tends to be wives, given their longer life expectancy.
For example, when a spouse dies, the survivor is allowed to collect just one Social Security benefit, not both. To ensure that the surviving spouse has the largest possible benefit, you may want to make plans for the highest earner to wait until age 70 to start collecting payments. (Social Security pays reduced benefits beginning at age 62. If you wait until age 70 to start collecting, your benefit could be higher than if you start at age 62.)8
If your household will also benefit from a pension and that money is needed to pay for essential living costs, you will want to carefully choose a payout option that will ensure that the surviving spouse can remain financially independent.
The Takeaway
The one-two punch of getting paid less and living longer than men, on average, can create a challenge for women who want to be financially independent. Committing to key planning steps today can put you on a path to financial freedom.
1 “Gender pay gap in U.S. has narrowed slightly over two decades,” Pew Research Center
2 “Older Women and Unpaid Caregiving in the U.S.,” Women's Bureau Department of Labor
3 “Why do females tend to outlive males?,” Columbine Health Systems Center for Healthy Aging
4 “When negotiating starting salaries, most U.S. women and men don’t ask for higher pay,” Pew Research Center
5 “Actuarial Life Table,” Social Security Administration
6 “What Are Spousal IRAs and How Do They Work?,” Equifax
7 “401(k) limit increases to $23,500 for 2025, IRA limit remains $7,000,” Internal Revenue Service
8 “Starting Your Retirement Benefits Early,” Social Security Administration
Carla Fried is a freelance journalist who has spent her entire career specializing in personal finance. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Money, CNBC.com, and Consumer Reports, among many other media outlets.
All Credit Intel content is written by freelance authors and commissioned and paid for by American Express.
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