As per the 2011 Census, there are nearly 74 million single women in India – unmarried, divorced, separated and widowed. Additionally, there was a 39% increase in single women between 2001 and 2011. More importantly, long-term goals and expectations of women have changed. Women today are re-inventing themselves in their professional as well as personal lives and redefining retirement on their terms. Therefore it becomes extremely significant to understand why deciding to retire is different for women, and subsequently how retirement planning should also be specific to their needs. 

Most retirement plans of the past were traditionally designed for men. Several married couples still opt for a combined retirement plan. However, here are the variables that make it necessary for women to design an independent retirement plan:

1. Higher life expectancy: Women have a higher life expectancy than men. Owing to this fact, women will require a larger corpus to sustain their longer lives and may outlive the retirement fund the couple has built – if she is married. 
2. Wage gap: In India, studies show that women earn 20% lower wages than male employees. This means that your capacity, as a woman, to accumulate a corpus is diminished at the very stage of its conception. So, in order to build the same corpus as men, women will have to save approximately twice as much. It is essential then, that your retirement plan accounts for these biases.
3. Higher healthcare costs: Coupled with a higher life expectancy and a lesser wage, women incur higher healthcare costs when compared to male counterparts. Therefore, the medical allowances/expenses in a couple’s retirement plan cannot be calculated as an even split. 
4. Longer breaks from work: Women who take breaks in their career, either owing to pregnancy and maternity, or to help their ageing parents and other similar reasons, always miss out on the yearly contributions towards savings for their retirement corpus and, hence compromise on their benefits compounding over the long term. Taking time off from work also directly results in lesser work hours and the possibility of passing up promotions.
5. Conservative investing: Studies have shown that women are more likely to be risk-averse. They prefer assured returns even if it means less growth when they are in the accumulation stage of their investing years. Single and divorced women may need to pull more income from their investment savings in retirement if their provident fund benefits are lacking.

In light of these inequities here are some points that women should keep in mind in order to secure their retirement. 

• A methodical saving regimen to help you overcome the clear wage difference. Since you need to save two times more than men to secure the same corpus, you will have to find the clear-cut means to help achieve this.
• Make smarter investments, with some risk, using optimally designed strategies that allow you to make the most of your capital. This means that you have to get your allocations right. Since your time horizon is long, invest small amounts in debt, but try to invest a larger percentage of your capital in equity instruments that ensure you get high returns over long periods.
• Always keep your end goals within sight. So make sure that you make investments in line with these goals. In this case, it is important that you calculate the retirement corpus accurately and take into account the effects of inflation and the impact of taxation on your investments and their returns.

Keeping with these points, you can begin to devise a retirement plan that suits your current financial profile and will help you achieve your goals. The best way to move forward from here is to find a certified financial planner or wealth management firm that has experience with aiding (in)dependent women create their individualised retirement plan.