• by Tanya Gazdik , February 2, 2011

Wells Fargo has launched "Beyond Today," a new retirement site for women featuring information categorized by age and common concerns.

Women can search by decade, like "In your 40s," or goals, such as "I want to retire at a certain age." In addition to blogs by senior Wells Fargo female leaders, the site will offer a weekly blog authored by financial columnist Jean Chatzky starting Feb. 2.

The site is hyperlinked from Wells Fargo's main page.

Wells Fargo has already begun to market the site in various ways in a multifaceted campaign, including a PR component managed by Wells Fargo Corporate Communications and Ogilvy Public Relations.

Information about the site will appear in lifestyle magazines such as More, O and Better Homes & Gardens. Ads will also appear on O's new iPad app. The strategy is to partner with strong brands that women already look to for advice and guidance in many areas of their life, including finances, according to a spokesman.

The bank hopes to extend the conversation around women and retirement in blogs and networking sites (Facebook, Twitter and jeanchatzky.com) and via ads on Facebook.

U.S. women still lag in saving for retirement, according to the sixth annual "Retirement Survey" from Wells Fargo. The survey queried middle-class women across five decades, from those in their mid-20s to those who are already retired and in their 60s.

Women hold more than half of high-paying management and professional positions in the U.S., and three women are in college now for every two men. But when it comes to retirement, they lag in their confidence about how to prepare for this phase in life, and they are less likely to see themselves in the driver's seat, says Karen Wimbish, head of Retail Retirement for Wells Fargo.

"We'd like to see women make the same kind of progress in planning and saving for retirement that they've made in so many other spheres of life," Wimbish says in a release. "It's encouraging that retirement is the No. 1 financial topic women want to learn about, based on additional research we've conducted."

Regardless of marital status, women expressed less confidence in their outlook for retirement and had saved less than men. A majority of women are unsure or unrealistic about what their annual withdrawals should be in retirement and are wary of the stock market as a place for investment gains.

Just 54% of women said they are "confident" they will have enough saved to "live the life they want" in retirement, compared to 62% of men. Women respondents indicate they are less likely to have a pension (40% vs. 48% of men) or a 401(k) available to them through their employer among those employed (71% vs. 76% of men). Women are also less likely to believe that Social Security will be available to them (38% vs. 42% of men) when they retire.

Although both men and women are underfunded for retirement, women have saved less than men -- a median of $20,000, compared to $25,000 for men. Women also set their sights lower than men: Whether married or single, when asked how much they thought they would need to support them during retirement, women said they are aiming for a median of $200,000, whereas men predict they will need retirement savings of $400,000.

Harris Interactive Inc. conducted 1,756 telephone interviews of middle-income U.S. residents in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s, surveying attitudes and behaviors about planning, saving and investing for retirement. The interviews were conducted between Sept. 9 and Oct. 7, 2010.