At a Glance | May 16, 2019 A Look at the Spending Patterns of Current Retirees RE TIRED HOUSEHOLD SPENDING Median Spending-to-Income Ratios of Retired Households By Marital Status Single, retired households Single, retired Couple, both retired had higher spending- to-income ratios than retired Retired Households 112% 86% couple households. Not surprisingly, for both groups, Pension Status¹ the amount of slack that Without Regular Pension Income 89% 77% households had in their budget increased by wealth quartile. With Regular Pension Income 57% 74% Wealth Quartile Lowest Quartile 123% 71% Second Quartile 90% 79% Third Quartile 100% 50% Top Quartile 65% 58% DEFICIT OR SURPLUS? Percentage of Households With a Budget Deficit vs. Budget Surplus 59 percent of retired households experienced a surplus in their Budget Deficit Budget Surplus budget, while 41 percent ran a 41% 59% deficit. Retirees with no regular All Households pension income were more Pension Status¹ likely to run a deficit.² 34% 66% Retired Households With Regular Pension Income 46% 54% Retired Households Without Regular Pension Income Irregular Pension/IRA Withdrawals Respondents with a 42% 28% Pension/IRA were asked with a budget with a budget whether they made deficit made surplus made irregular withdrawals (any irregular irregular infrequent distribution from withdrawals withdrawals plans/accounts as opposed to a regular stream of income). 4242 J+5858+ 2828 +J7272+ SOURCE: Zahra Ebrahimi. “Spending Patterns of Older Households,” EBRI Issue Brief, no. 480 (Employee Benefit Research Institute, May 2, 2019). Health and Retirement Study, public use dataset. Produced and distributed by the University of Michigan with funding from the National Institute on Aging (grant number NIA U01AG009740). Ann Arbor, MI (2014, 2015). 1. Pension income is the sum of all pension and annuity payments. This includes income from defined benefit pensions and annuities as well as income from other retirement savings such as 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). 2. Deficit (surplus) refers to when spending is more (less) than income as defined in the HRS. Data is from the Health and Retirement Study (2014 Core, CAMS 2015), public use dataset. Produced and distributed by the University of Michigan with funding from the National Institute on Aging (grant number NIA U01AG009740). Ann Arbor, MI (2014, 2015). © 2019 EBRI This report is copyrighted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). You may copy or print this report solely for personal and noncommercial use, provided that all hard copies retain any and all copyright and other applicable notices contained therein, and you may cite or quote small portions of the report provided that you do so verbatim and with proper citation. Any use beyond the scope of the foregoing requires EBRI’s prior express permission. For permissions, please contact EBRI at permissions@ebri.org.