--- title: Your Employer Wants You to Stop Raiding Your 401(k) description: Companies across the country are launching initiatives to stop employees from borrowing from their 401(k) plan too early. authors: - name: Jennifer Calfas url: https://money.com/author/jennifer-calfas/ at_money_since: 2017 articles: 339 covers: - Retirement - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Personal Finance - Pets - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/jencalfas former_staff: true published: '2017-04-03T15:25:56.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T05:34:34.000Z' section: Retirement tags: - 401(k) - looking forward - onetime - Retirement - lookingforward word_count: 268 canonical: https://money.com/401k-companies-leakage/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Mixed race woman saving money in jars](https://img.money.com/2017/04/401k.jpg) *Woman saving money in jars* An increasing number of companies across the [United States](https://time.com/4650094/first-subway-history-documentary/) are launching initiatives to stop their employees from dipping into or cashing out their [401(k)s](https://money.com/roth-ira-traditional-ira-choice/). The initiatives vary, according to the *[Wall Street Journal](https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-rising-retirement-perils-of-401-k-leakage-1491171015):* It could be anything from a company-funded consultation with a financial counselor to a required number of days between paying off one 401(k) loan and initiating the next one. “Employers have done a lot to encourage people to save 401(k) plans, such as automatically enrolling them,” Lori Lucas, defined-contribution practice leader at Callan Associates, an investment consulting firm, told the *Journal*. “But there is a growing recognition that if the money isn’t staying in the system, the objective of helping employees reach their retirement goals isn’t being met.” Economists at Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research suggest leakage — or the borrowing of retirement funds early — poses a threat to wealth across all U.S. retirement accounts. Leakage occurs in three different ways: withdraws for hardships, cashing out when a person leaves a job and through loans, according to economists. Movement Mortgage, a mortgage lender in Fort Mill, S.C., and Home Depot are two examples of employers that have recently targeted this issue in several ways, the *Journal* reported. Movement Mortgage now requires employees who start a 401(k) loan to meet with a financial counselor before they do so, while Home Depot requires employees to wait at least 90 days between paying off one 401(k) loan and initiating another. The end goal, Movement Mortgage CEO Casey Crawford told the *J*, is to get employees to "stop looking at their 401(k) like a cash register." \[[*Wall Street Journal*](https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-rising-retirement-perils-of-401-k-leakage-1491171015)\] ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/401k-companies-leakage/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Retirement", "item": "https://money.com/retirement/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "401(k)", "item": "https://money.com/401k/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Your Employer Wants You to Stop Raiding Your 401(k)" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/401k-companies-leakage/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/401k-companies-leakage/", "name": "Your Employer Wants You to Stop Raiding Your 401(k)", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2017-04-03T15:25:56.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/401k-companies-leakage/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/401k-companies-leakage/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T05:34:34.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Your Employer Wants You to Stop Raiding Your 401(k)", "articleSection": "Retirement", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2017/04/401k.jpg", "width": 5127, "height": 3412, "caption": "Mixed race woman saving money in jars" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jennifer Calfas", "url": "https://money.com/author/jennifer-calfas/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/jennifer-calfas/#author", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/jencalfas" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2017-04-03T15:25:56.000Z", "description": "Companies across the country are launching initiatives to stop employees from borrowing from their 401(k) plan too early.", "abstract": "Companies across the country are launching initiatives to stop employees from borrowing from their 401(k) plan too early.", "@id": "https://money.com/401k-companies-leakage/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-17T05:34:34.000Z", "wordCount": 268, "keywords": [ "401(k)", "looking forward", "onetime", "Retirement", "lookingforward" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Retirement", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "401(k)", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/401(k)" ] } ] } ] } ```