A new study finds that “leakage” from 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts can reduce a person’s retirement wealth by as much as 25%.
The study from The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College from 2013 shows the average working household had only $111,000 in a 401(k) or IRA approaching retirement.
According to study co-author Anthony Webb the brief’s key findings are:
- As 401(k)s and IRAs have become the dominant source of retirement saving, the potential for pre-retirement withdrawals – “leakages” – has grown.
- Leakages occur via three channels: 1) in-service withdrawals for hardships or after age 59½; 2) cashouts when individuals leave a job; and 3) loans.
- Estimates indicate that about 1.5 percent of assets leaks out of 401(k)s/IRAs each year, reducing wealth at retirement by about 25 percent.
- Given the size of leakages, it may be time to take steps to curtail them such as:
- limiting hardship withdrawals to unpredictable events;
- raising the age for penalty-free withdrawals to better align with when people actually retire; and
- closing down cashouts by requiring the money to stay in the 401(k) system or be rolled over into an IRA.
