A new study published by the Collaborative for Equitable Retirement Savings finds that Black and Hispanic workers withdraw a larger portion of their account balances before retirement.
The study is based on a thorough analysis of anonymized 2022 data from nine 401(k) plan sponsors across 180,000 active plan participants.
- The Collaborative—including Morningstar Retirement, Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association (DCIIA), and the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program—was formed in 2023 as a multi-stakeholder initiative to understand the complex decisions of savers and make retirement savings more inclusive and efficient.
Go deeper: At ages 55-59, both Black men and Black women have a 49% probability of having an outstanding loan against their retirement accounts.
- That compares with 22% of White men and women and 39 percent of Hispanic men and 32% of Hispanic women.
- The report’s simulation results indicate that eliminating preretirement withdrawals would mitigate race and gender disparities, particularly for early- and mid-career 401(k) participants.
