The Government Accountability Office estimates retirees will spend 77 percent of what they spent in pre-retirement, according to a new report on the efficacy of retirement income replacement rates.
While retirement consumption habits are not uniform across income levels, the GAO's report found that average spending in retirement is in line with the median recommended retirement income replacement rate—77 percent.
GAO mined 2013 consumption data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to measure spending habits for four income brackets throughout working and retirement years.
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