Early Withdrawals from Retirement Accounts, by Persons Younger than 55 total TAXABLE TAXPAYERS with TAXABLE DISTRIBUTIONS (BARS) DISTRIBUTIONS (LINES 12 million
Although early withdrawals from retirement accounts increased during the Great Recession and its aftermath, the difference was less than what one might have expected — largely, researchers from the Federal Reserve and the IRS found, because early withdrawals were so substantial in the years leading up to the recession. The data suggest that many families were under financial stress even during the apparently prosperous years of the mid-2000s.
Early Withdrawals from Retirement  | Accounts, by Persons Younger than 55  | total TAXABLE  | TAXPAYERS with TAXABLE  | DISTRIBUTIONS (BARS)  | DISTRIBUTIONS (LINES  | $120 million  | 12 million  | 100  | $103 10  | 7.5  | 8, o  | .5  | 80 7.0 7.0  | 8  | $79 $82 $82  | 60 $66 $68 $74  | 40  | 20  | 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010  | Source: 'Early Withdrawals from Retirement Accounts During  | the Great Recession, Federal Reserve Board  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 