Tag: household consumption
Much of the disagreement over whether the United States faces a retirement savings crisis hinges on different assumptions on how household consumption changes once the kids leave home. “Optimal savings” studies, which assume that household consumption declines and savings increase when the kids leave, suggest that most people are saving optimally. On the other hand,…
Abstract Whether households prefer a constant, increasing, or decreasing path of consumption in retirement has important implications for our understanding of retirement adequacy. Financial planners and researchers have often assumed that retirees would like to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living. However, several studies suggest that retired households decrease their consumption over time. This project…
