Spending Patterns in the Older Population

This chapter deals with the concrete differences in consumption behavior across a person's life span. Although there is a prevasive belief that households reduce consumption at retirement, the interpretation that consumers adjust their spending after discovering they have fewer economic resources than they had anticipated prior to retirement is not wholly consistent with empirial evidence. The spending habits of older adults are determined by a variety of factors like age, marital status, and economic resources. Specifically, as the population ages, it will tend to spend less on transportation services, vacations, and food; and more on health care and charitable giving.