This paper addresses whether households save enough for their retirement. For successive date-of-birth cohorts we analyze income and expenditure patterns around the time of retirement. We find a fall in consumption as household heads retire which cannot be fully explained by a forward-looking consumption-smoothing model that accounts for expected demographic changes and mortality risk. Controlling for labor-market participation explains part, but not all, of this dip. We argue that the only way to reconcile fully the fall in consumption with the life-cycle hypothesis is with the systematic arrival of unexpected adverse information.
Authors
![James Banks](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-06/James_Banks.jpg?itok=EvmV7fKj)
CPP Co-Director
James is Senior Research Fellow and Professor of Economics at Manchester, working on broad issues in the economics of retirement, savings and health.
![Richard Blundell](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-03/Richard%20Blundell%20Head.jpg?itok=ow7e9OkA)
CPP Co-Director
Richard is Co-Director of the Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy (CPP) and Senior Research Fellow at IFS.
![Sarah Smith](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-07/Sarah%20Smith.jpg?itok=0-hn5Gx1)
Research Associate University of Bristol
Sarah is a Research Associate at the IFS and Head of the Department of Economics at the University of Bristol with interest in applied microeconomics.
Journal article details
- Publisher
- American Economic Association
- Issue
- Volume 88, Issue 4, September 1998, pages 769-788
Suggested citation
J, Banks and R, Blundell and S, Smith. (1998). 'Is there a retirement-savings puzzle?' 88(4/1998), pp.769–788.
More from IFS
Understand this issue
![Isabel Stockton](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-06/Isabel-public-finances.jpg?itok=JfdJNN7F)
What are the challenges in getting debt on a falling path?
28 June 2024
![Microphone](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-06/Microphone.jpg?itok=soM7Wvbz)
Election Special: Your questions answered
27 June 2024
![Tom Waters](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-06/tom%20waters.jpg?itok=faDtwS3F)
What is the two-child limit in benefits?
27 June 2024
Policy analysis
![Welsh town with mountains behind](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-06/Welsh-town-feature.jpg?itok=5axb5wZn)
How would the parties’ tax and spending plans affect Scotland and Wales?
28 June 2024
![Breakfast club](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-06/Breakfast-club.jpg?itok=dEyGgrwT)
Free breakfast clubs in schools: what Labour’s plans would mean for pupils and families
25 June 2024
![Man putting vote into ballot box](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-07/Man-putting-vote-into-ballot-box.jpg?itok=Pa6g41dr)
General Election 2024: Manifesto Analysis Presentations
24 June 2024
Academic research
![Fiscal Studies - 2024 - June cover](/sites/default/files/styles/portrait/public/2024-06/Fiscal%20Studies%20-%202024%20-%20-%20June%20cover.jpg?itok=mQEwRc_w)
Fiscal Studies: Volume 45, Issue 2
28 June 2024
![Fiscal Studies - 2024 - June cover](/sites/default/files/styles/portrait/public/2024-06/Fiscal%20Studies%20-%202024%20-%20-%20June%20cover.jpg?itok=mQEwRc_w)
Income inequality in Ireland, 1987–2019
28 June 2024
![Fiscal Studies - 2024 - June cover](/sites/default/files/styles/portrait/public/2024-06/Fiscal%20Studies%20-%202024%20-%20-%20June%20cover.jpg?itok=mQEwRc_w)
Inequality in Denmark, 1987–2021
28 June 2024