Americans taking money out of a new piggy bank

Retirement accounts have become America's new piggy bank, cracked open in record amounts during lean times by people like Cindy Cromie, who needed the money to rent a U-Haul and start a new life.

Her employer, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, had outsourced Cromie's medical transcription work. Cromie said the move cut her income by as much as 60 percent, at times leaving her with minimum-wage pay.

So, last year, at age 56, she moved about 90 miles from her home in Edinboro, Pa., into her mother's basement. To make ends meet as she moved and then quit the job, Cromie pulled out $2,767 from her retirement savings.

"We made two trips and it just got to be real expensive," she said. "That money, it was a security that I needed."

Still unemployed, Cromie is trying to avoid tapping what's left of her retirement savings - $7,000 that would be subject to taxes and a 10 percent extra penalty if she touches it in the next two to three years, before she turns 591/2.

It's a small number that's part of a much larger picture: The Internal Revenue Service collected $5.7 billion in 2011 from penalties, meaning that Americans took out about $57 billion from retirement funds before they were supposed to.

The median size of a 401(k) is $24,400 as of March 31, with people older than 55 having $65,300, according to Fidelity Investments. Those funds can disappear quickly in retirement, and the early withdrawals indicate that the coming retirement crisis could be even more acute than expected.

For decades, Americans' homes were their piggy banks. As values rose, they refinanced or took out second mortgages. Since the housing collapse of 2008, that's often no longer an option. Taking money from a 401(k) - and worrying about the consequences later - became a more attractive alternative and a record number of Americans made early withdrawals in 2010.

Adjusted for inflation, the government collects 37 percent more money from early-withdrawal penalties than it did in 2003. Meanwhile, the amount of home-equity loans outstanding was $704 billion in 2013, down 38 percent from the 2007 peak, according to Federal Reserve data.

In 2011, 5.7 million tax returns, or about 4 percent of all U.S. households, reported paying penalties on early withdrawals.

"You have this kind of Catch-22," said Karen Friedman, executive vice president and policy director at the Pension Rights Center, a Washington-based consumer group. "On the one hand, the penalty is meant to discourage people from taking the money out. At a time when millions of families are in hardship, they're more likely to take that money out."

Under U.S. law, money in tax-deferred retirement accounts can be removed without penalty after age 591/2 and generally must be withdrawn starting after age 701/2.

The people who pay the penalty include younger workers who switch jobs and don't bother to roll over their accounts and older workers who have no place else to turn.

A Federal Reserve study last year found that in 2010, 9.3 percent of taxpayers with retirement accounts or pensions were penalized, up from 7.9 percent in 2004.

Younger workers ages 20 to 39 have the highest cash-out rates, with about 40 percent taking money with them when they switch jobs, according to data from Fidelity, the largest administrator of 401(k) plans.

"The pervasive thinking is, 'Why bother rolling over $2,500? The taxes and penalties aren't that daunting,' " said Michael Branham, a financial planner at Cornerstone Wealth Advisors in Edina, Minn. "What's missing is the longer-term thinking in that decision-making process."

A 30-year-old who cashes out $16,000 could lose $471 a month in retirement income cash flow by not leaving it invested in a retirement account, assuming retirement at age 67 and death at age 93, according to a Fidelity analysis. That scenario assumed a 4.7 percent annual return and a 401(k) balance at retirement of $87,500.