Nearly half of single-parent respondents in a recent study from Allianz identified their children’s education as their primary motivation for developing and executing a long-term financial plan. Only 26 percent of other modern families and 39 percent of traditional families said the same.

“We find that a little disturbing because there are grants, scholarships and student loans to pay for education. … You can’t get a loan … or a scholarship for retirement,” says Katie Libbe, vice president of consumer marketing and solutions at Allianz Life.

Given that single-parent families tend to have lower total household incomes, the results aren’t surprising. Single-parent respondents had an average household income of $85,000, and 64 percent of those respondents receive no child support as part of their income. Meanwhile, traditional families had an average household income of $113,000, and other modern families – such as boomerang, multigenerational and same-sex parent families – averaged $101,000.

Libbe said single parents questioned for this survey don’t represent the standard income level for single parents, who usually sit closer to the poverty line. The survey required respondents to have a minimum annual household income of $50,000. She says the purpose of the survey was to find out how different types of families with the means to save are doing so, and if they’re even saving at all.

Libbe says it was surprising that single parents placed more emphasis on education saving. Many single parents are only saving for one goal, which could cause serious financial trouble in the long run, she says. Single parents and all other non-traditional families are significantly more worried about running out of money in retirement than respondents from traditional households.

“For single parents, it’s a family-first mentality,” Libbe says. “They’re struggling as the sole decision maker in the family, and they’re putting their own financial futures at risk.”

Nevin Adams, director of the American Savings Education Council, says regardless of how many incomes a household has, it is important to develop a savings plan for specific things rather than a general savings account..

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