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Working Americans and families who identify as LGBTQIA+ may be less prepared for retirement and more worried about their finances than the general population, recent data suggest. However, they are also in a position to overcome the challenges and take control of their financial future through early education and action.
"The traditional reasons why working adults are motivated to save, including marriage, buying a home, raising kids, and saving for retirement, were once restricted and much more difficult for LGBTQIA+ couples," said Steve Branton, a financial professional with Mosaic Financial Partners in San Francisco, California, who works closely with the LGBTQIA+ community. "Now that this is mostly equalized, younger gay couples who hope to reach their financial goals in the same way as their straight counterparts" should educate themselves about the importance of saving and make regular contributions to their retirement accounts a top priority, he said.
Similarly, he said, older LGBTQIA+ workers who faced more challenges in their ability to save can still make smart saving and spending choices now that can potentially help them make up for lost time.
The numbers: Challenges and goals
A 2023 survey of the LGBTQIA+ community found that many lack a checking or savings account and half are unable to pay their monthly bills in full. It also noted that many are worried about their ability to pay for basic needs in the future including health care.1
Additionally, over half of LGBTQIA+ respondents said that they had less than $5,000 in savings, while 20 percent said that they had no savings at all. Twenty percent of LGBTQIA+ people who took the survey said that they had $50,000 or more in debt, with student loans and credit cards making up the largest sources of personal debt overall. 1
The survey’s findings align with decades of research that reveals that LGBTQIA+ individuals continue to experience higher rates of poverty overall.
LGBTQIA+ elders, who lived most of their working years in an era in which discrimination was still legal and had less access to federal safety net programs, are most concerned about outliving their savings, according to the LBGTQ advocacy group Movement Advancement Project. (Learn more: Setting income goals)
That’s not surprising, said Jerry Chasen, director of legacy planning for SAGE, which offers advocacy and services for LGBTQIA+ seniors, in an interview.
“Older LGBTQIA+ people are coming from decades of discrimination in employment, in opportunity, and in financial guidance,” he said, noting that most spent the bulk of their working careers earning less than their non-LGBTQIA+ peers. “The generation that is currently old are the people who have been at the forefront of the LGBTQIA+ struggle for equality. As they age, once again and sadly, they are still the ones on the front lines of this challenge.” (Related: Aging and the LGBTQIA+ community)
Earnings gap
Still today, workplace discrimination for the LGBTQIA+ community remains a challenge.
There is no federal nondiscrimination protection in place specifically on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, and state laws vary widely. In 18 states, according to LGBTQIA+ advocacy group Movement Advancement Project, you can still get fired simply for being lesbian, bisexual, or gay.
More than half (53 percent) of LGBTQIA+ employees report that discrimination negatively affected their work environment and nearly one in 10 report having left a job because the environment was unwelcoming. Among the transgender population, the unemployment rate is three times higher than the national average.2
While the income gap is disappearing for LGBTQIA+ working men with comparable education, experience, and job profile, it persists for workers who identify as lesbian. This limits their ability to save and maximize employer matching benefits, said Jennifer Hatch, a financial advisor and owner of Christopher Street Financial in New York, which caters to LGBTQIA+ clients.
In its most recent analysis of data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances, the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research confirmed that same-sex couples who have retirement accounts report lower total account values than different-sex married couples, according to Jennifer Benz, the group’s principal research scientist. The study found the median value for same-sex couples is roughly $66,000 compared with $88,000 for different-sex married couples. (Know your number? Retirement savings calculator)
“The income gap is certainly a factor,” said Hatch. “And it’s compounded for women. Gay women are at the bottom of the earnings scale, and that’s a double whammy when you’re trying to fund your own retirement.”
An aging support network
Another vulnerability that impacts retirement security for older LGBTQIA+ adults is the lack of available caretakers, said Chasen, noting that members of the LGBTQIA+ community are three to four times less likely to have children than the general population.
“In American society, the default caretaker in an aging situation is the child,” he said. “As a community, we have always prided ourselves on creating our ‘families of choice’ and those have proven to be incredibly resilient and satisfying, but those families are often of the same generation, which means that when we reach out for help as we age, that person might be reaching out to us.”
Ironically, the growing social support and acceptance for the LGBTQIA+ community may help reinforce those generational silos. (Learn more: The changing notion of dependents)
“In the past, when we experienced outright legal discrimination and the horror of the AIDS years, those were circumstances that demanded and created those relationships,” said Chasen. “But at this point, we’re not in a horrible crisis. We don’t have that same urgency, so one thing we are looking at as an organization is how do we make sure those relationships and connections still happen?”
LGBTQIA+ individuals who choose not to have children, he said, should cultivate a healthy social network that includes nieces and nephews, colleagues, and younger friends who can potentially provide transportation and support as they age. Such relationships could delay or prevent the need for costly home health care services or assisted living down the road.
The health disparity
Another risk factor facing LGBTQIA+ adults, which negatively affects their financial security, is poor relative health.
The National LGBT Health Education Center reports that the LGBTQIA+ population has higher rates of substance abuse, smoking, depression, and unhealthy weight control/perception. The group also has lower rates of mammography and other preventive screenings.3
“Experiences of violence and victimization are frequent for LGBTQIA+ individuals, and have long-lasting effects on the individual and the community,” the Center wrote in its report, noting that homosexuality was listed as a disorder as recently as 1973 and transgender identity still is. LGBTQIA+ adults are more likely to avoid well visits and treatment for early-stage health problems, for fear they will not receive culturally competent care. That, in turn, leads to costly chronic conditions. (Lean more: Improving your healthcare)
Indeed, SAGE reports that 43 percent of older LGBTQIA+ people who are single and 40 percent of older LGBTQIA+ people in their 60s and 70s said that their health care providers do not know their sexual orientation, and 65 percent of transgender adults felt that there will be limited access to health care providers as they grow older.
Hatch said poor health negatively affects the ability of working adults, regardless of gender or sexual identity, to maintain employment and save for the future.
“I think that if you take any marginalized community, there is more depression and self-medication through drugs and alcohol,” said Hatch. “It’s a big challenge.”
Americans are notorious for undersaving, but LGBTQIA+ working adults face far bigger roadblocks to financial security. Thus, they are less prepared than the general population to cover their living expenses in retirement.
By cultivating a social support network, however, and seeking financial advice and health care from culturally competent sources, the LGBTQIA+ community can help reduce a significant source of worry and better provide for their financial needs as they age.
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This article was originally published in March 2020. It has been updated.
________________________________________1 Center for LGBTQ+ Economic Advancement & Research and the Movement Advancement Project, “The LGBTQI+ Economic and Financial Survey: Understanding the Financial Lives of LGBTQI+ People in the United States,” March 2023.
2 Out & Equal, “2017 Workplace Equality Fact Sheet,” 2019.
3 National LGBT Health Education Center, “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health,” 2020.