How Do Households Adjust Their Earnings, Saving, and Consumption After Children Leave?
By Andrew G. Biggs, Anqi Chen & Alicia H. Munnell Whether parents adjust their consumption after their children leave home has important implications for our understanding of retirement income adequacy. Prior studies have found that parents reduce consumption after their children become independent, allowing them to save more for retirement. Other studies, however, have found that savings for retirement does not increase. If households are both consuming less but not saving more after the children leave, where are the resources...