A sharp rise in the number of Americans pulling money out from their 401(k) accounts is the latest sign that the U.S. consumer may be starting to buckle as the pandemic-era jump in excess savings continues to be depleted and people are relying more and more on high-interest credit cards and retirement nest eggs to prop up spending.
A new report from Bank of America (BofA) shows that so-called hardship withdrawals (or “hardship distributions”) from retirement plans rose by more than 10 percent in the third quarter.
