"Retirement Consumption:
Survey Evidence on Expectations and Outcomes"

John Ameriks, Andrew Caplin, and John Leahy

August 2001

Preliminary draft; comments welcome.
Please do not quote or cite without permission.

We present results from a new survey concerning retirement consumption. We find that the expected level of retirement consumption among working households is significantly lower than that reported by those already retired. We confirm that unexpected stock market appreciation plays a significant role in explaining the gap between expectation and outcome. Surprisingly high expenditure needs also appear to play a role. We find evidence that careful planning can reduce the impact of this second factor.