<p>This paper examines the asset positions of households at and around retirement in Britain using the Retirement Survey 'waves' of 1988-89 and 1994. The data provide the first panel evidence on retirement behaviour and asset evolution for a sample of older households in Britain. The analysis in this paper shows the importance of housing and private pension wealth for this age-group in Britain, and also the differential wealth holdings between surviving respondents and those who died or failed to respond for other reasons in 1994. It provides some preliminary evidence as to whether households decumulate assets after retirement in accordance with the 'textbook' version of the Life-Cycle Hypothesis of consumption.</p>
Authors
![Richard Disney](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-05/Richard_Disney.jpeg?itok=l_sa1MjX)
Richard Disney
Research Associate University of Sussex
Richard is an IFS Research Associate, a Part-time Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex and a Visiting Professor of Economics at UCL.
![Paul Johnson](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-11/Paul%20J%202022%20Official%20portrait_0.jpg?itok=JAN23N1X)
Paul Johnson
Director
Paul has been the Director of the IFS since 2011. He is also currently visiting professor in the Department of Economics at University College London.
![Person graphic](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-06/IFS-person-graphic.png?itok=hWCtTSrz)
Stears, Stears
Journal article details
- ISSN
- Print: 0143-5671 Online: 1475-5890
- JEL
- D31, D91, J26
- Issue
- May 1998
Suggested citation
R, Disney and P, Johnson and S, Stears. (1998). 'Asset wealth and asset decumulation among households in the Retirement Survey' (1998)
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