Ray is correct, and Ray and I have had informative exchanges (public and private) regarding my version of income smoothing.  But this, of course, involves the use of annuitization as a substitution for a defined benefit plan to provide as safe a bet to continue my standard of living, and, of course, social security--an inflation-indexed annuity--adds to the mix.

But consumption smoothing does involve a change of the prevailing investment mindset--i.e., not relying on such things as a safe withdrawal strategy from the investment portfolio for sustaining one's standard  of living, but rather using insurance-type products (immediate income annuities, interest-only payments through TIAA, social security and I would include TIPS) to lay the basic foundation.

Then (and only then) do I maintain a separate investment portfolio of equities, bonds, commodities (if you wish), precious metals (if you wish), etc. which is layered over the insurance strategy and which can become another source of income (if you wish or when the guvment says you have to draw down if tax-deferred) and which, if not depleted, is the core of a legacy portfolio.

If you would like an additional taste (and I know it's not the prevailing taste) for the kind of planning I favor, I can think of no better website to familiarize yourself with than that of the Society of Actuaries (SOA), where there's a ton of research available.  Here's a very readable summary of a roundtable discussion that will give you a sense of how the likes of Zvi Bodie (and a number of economists and actuaries) part company from those who put asset allocation ahead of consumption smoothing. You can click on the SOA link at the end of the summary for the full discussion.

http://www.soa.org/library/newsletters/the-actuary-magazine/2007/october/per2007oct.aspx

Much of this kind of thinking is not only economic but behavioral.  We all gotta do what we're most comfortable doing.  It wasn't until I retired that I realized how very important insurance products (immediate annuities, long-term care insurance, SS) were to my mindset.  Cheers. Bob U.