Can We Predict Boomers’ Drawdown Behavior from Earlier Cohorts?

The brief’s key findings are:

Studies show that retirees have tended to draw down their financial wealth very slowly. But these retirees generally had defined benefit (DB) pension plans, which pay benefits for life. Hence, this slow drawdown pattern may not hold for new retirees, who rely on 401(k)s. Indeed, the analysis finds that households with a DB plan retain more of their wealth – that is, they draw it down more slowly than those with a 401(k).For example, a household retiring with $200,000 in savings and a DB plan would retain $28,000 more wealth at age 70 than a similar household with no DB plan. The analysis suggests that many new retirees could deplete their 401(k) assets by age 85, meaning that they face a greater risk of outliving their savings.