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.](http://www.mrrc.isr.umich.edu/publications/papers/pdf/wp282.pdf)

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