b'AGING IN THE 21ST CENTURYwealth quartile experience declines in spendingthose 85 and older. The same share is spent onproportionally than singles. Some of thisthat are substantially greater than expected. food (about 12%) and clothing (about 3%) afterdifference can be accounted for by the fact that Spending can decrease at retirement forretirement as before. Entertainment expensestwo can share some living expenses. Couples other reasons. Blau (2008) finds that there isaccount for about the same share of the budgetspend twice as much on clothing as singles but no mean change in spending at retirement, butbefore retirement and in early retirement, taper- much less than twice on housing and housing- some households experience a significant droping off after age 86. One category rises dramati- related costs. The share of the household budget in spending at retirement. Unexpected eventscally: health costs account for about 9% of costsspent on transportation is lower for singles such as a layoff or health events that lead to earlybetween ages 50 and 64, doubling to 18% afterwith low levels of economic resources; whereas retirement can lead to lower lifetime resourcesage 85. Comparing expenditures from 2001 tocouples even in the lowest wealth category do and thus, a significant drop in spending.2009 for each age group shows that housing andnot reduce their spending on transportation.home-related costs remain the largest category Another study suggests that couples save of expense for all age groups in both periods.on health care costs related to caregiving (EBRI Households with less retirementThe other age-related patterns of change remain2016b). Looking at OOPM expenses over a two-wealth are more likely to experienceabout the same as well.year period for those aged 65 and older, the aver-declines in spending at retirementSpending declines appear to level off fairlyage spending per person on doctor visits, dentist quickly after retirement. Household spendingvisits, and prescription drugs is about $2,500 (in and are also more likely to retiredrops by 5.5% in the first two years after2016 dollars) for both single and couple house-early because of poor health. retirement, and by 12.5% in the third to fourthholds. But couples spend less on in-home health year of retirement. Spending declines slow aftercare and nursing-home expenses than singles. that. However, changes in spending are not all Where Does the Money Go?about declines: a large percentage of householdsAs people age, they spend less on CAMS collects longitudinal information on 32actually increase their spending in retirement categories of durable and non-durable spending,(EBRI 2015b).transportation, vacations and which can be aggregated into categories likeSpending patterns at older ages also vary food, and more on health care, health, leisure, transportation and so on. Hurdin important ways depending on whether an donations and gifts.and Rohwedder (2010b) show that, as people age,individual is single or part of a couple and de-they spend less on transportation, vacations andpending on his or her level of economic resourcesfood, and more on health care, donations and(Hurd and Rohwedder 2010b). Figures 3-4a-cDeLeire and Kalil (2010) study the associa-gifts. Similarly, an EBRI report (EBRI 2012) showsshow income, wealth and total spending acrosstion between various components of consumption that spending steadily decreases with age. Thenine age groups and whether individuals are expenditure and happiness in CAMS. Only share of the budget spent on different categoriespart of a couple or not. As expected, incomeone type of expenditure is positively related to changes as well. For example, home-relateddeclines over time, and for nearly every agehappiness: entertainment. The boost in happiness expenses represent 47% of the budget for peoplegroup couples have more than double the incomeassociated with leisure spending comes, in part, aged 50 to 64. These expenditures drop to 44% ofof singles. Singles spend more of their wealth asfrom the increase in social connections that are the budget for people aged 65 to 74.they age to supplement their income. Despiteoften a part of leisure activities.Transportation costs drop from 14% of thethe much greater economic resources of couples, budget of 50- to 64-year-olds to only 8% forFigure 3-4c shows that they spend much less 62'