Retiring Comfortably

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In the past year alone, 15% of Americans dipped into their retirement fund to pay for an emergency, according to a nationally representative survey of more than 1,000 adults in the U.S. by personal finance site Bankrate.com released Wednesday — that’s 30 million Americans, if you extrapolate the survey data onto the entire U.S. population. 

Other studies reveal a similar predilection towards tapping into the retirement well too soon. Nearly one in four workers ages 20 to 60 have either taken a loan or early withdrawal from their retirement fund, according to the 16th annual Transamerica Retirement Survey of Workers, released in May. 

And a study published this year in the journal “Contemporary Economic Policy” revealed that more than 15% of taxpayers under 55 withdrew money from their retirement accounts early in 2010 alone.

Many workers are tapping their retirement funds for emergencies for one simple reason: They don’t have an emergency fund. 

Nearly one in three Americans has no emergency savings at all, according to a survey released by Bankrate this year — the highest rate in the five years Bankrate has been doing the survey. 

What’s more, fewer than one in four has more than six months of income (that’s what many experts consider an ideal amount of emergency savings) in their emergency fund. 

“Americans are woefully under-saved for emergencies — and lacking that cushion, they far too often resort to [tapping] their retirement accounts,” says Greg McBride, the chief financial analyst for Bankrate.com.      Read More: