Stafford finds shrinking proportion of labor force with retirement accounts

Frank Stafford and Thomas Bridges found that over the past decade a smaller percent of Americans initiated retirement accounts and more were dipping into them prior to retiring. Although defined benefit plans restrict pre-retirement withdrawls, other types of now-common options do not. Stafford says: ““If you leave people to their own devices, it’s tempting for them to use this money before they retire... So allowing pre-retirement access to these funds is a problem.” Full paper.