Homeowners Tapping Retirement Funds to Cover Debt Needs

Phil Hall

Aug 27, 2019

A new survey conducted by MagnifyMoney has found more than half of homeowners are making an early withdrawal into their retirement savings funds to pay down housing and personal debt.

In a poll of 1,029 adults, 52 percent admitting withdrawing retirement funds early, with 23 percent stating the money was used to help pay down non-medical debt and 17 percent stating they needed the money for a down payment on a home. MagnifyMoney found that 54 percent of Millennial savers have made early withdrawals form the retirement funds, compared to 50 percent of Generation X and 43 percent of Baby Boomers.

The new survey follows a recent report published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data that found total household debt rose in the second quarter due, in large part, to mortgage balances. During the second quarter, total household debt increased by $192 billion, or 1.4 percent, to $13.86 trillion. This marked the 20th consecutive quarter with an increase in household debt and created a new peak level–the earlier peak of $12.68 trillion was recorded in the third quarter of 2008.

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Aug 27, 2019

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