You might retire with less than you think.
Not because you didn’t save enough. Not because the market turned against you. But because of small, quiet leaks in your strategy — some of us have habits that erode our retirement savings long before our golden years ever begin.
Let’s talk about what’s really going on inside America’s retirement accounts, and how to make sure it doesn’t happen to yours.
The Hidden Drain: Early Withdrawals and Loans
Fidelity’s 2023 retirement analysis revealed that a rising number of workers are tapping their 401(k)s early. In-service withdrawals, hardship withdrawals, and loans are becoming more common. In fact, 17.6% of workers now have an active loan against their 401(k).
Yes, borrowing from your retirement plan may be “better” than borrowing from a full-blown taxable withdrawal. But it still hurts.
You’re repaying the loan with after-tax dollars, and you’ll be taxed again when you withdraw the money in retirement. That’s a form of double taxation. And while the interest you “pay yourself” might feel like a silver lining, it doesn’t come close to the compounding growth you’re giving up by interrupting your investment timeline.
It’s Not Just About Math, It’s About Behavior
The real risk isn’t in the dollars and cents, but in your habits.
If you start using your retirement account like an emergency fund, you normalize it to the point it becomes a pattern. And that pattern can follow you into retirement, when steady monthly income — not reactive decisions — is the name of the game.
Most people tell themselves, “It’s just this one time. I’ll make up for it later.” But later rarely arrives the way we imagine. Life doesn’t always hand you higher income or perfect timing.
We’re not saying you should never tap retirement savings in a pinch. Life happens. But we are saying: understand the cost. And if you can, look elsewhere first.
The Real Key to Retirement Success
Having helped hundreds of families plan for retirement, the Brindle & Bay team knows the most successful retirees aren’t the ones who max out their Roth accounts every year or beat the market. They’re the ones who avoid mistakes, and that means having a strategy that goes beyond just saving.
Let’s consider the hypothetical example of Jerry and Margaret, a successful couple that owns a business. They were constantly dipping into their 401(k) and home equity line of credit whenever business was tight. They didn’t keep an emergency fund because they didn’t want “cash sitting idle.” Does this sound familiar?
We helped them shift their mindset. First, they read a book titled Profit First, which gave them a framework for treating savings as non-negotiable. Then we helped them build a real emergency fund and adopt consistent retirement contributions.
But the biggest breakthrough came when we showed them what their monthly income would look like in retirement if they stayed the course on saving versus borrowing from their accounts. Simply put, it reasserted their motivation and made a lasting difference in their perspective.
When you can clearly see the future you’re building (or jeopardizing), the better choices start to feel obvious, not painful.
The Guardrails Strategy: Retirement With Clarity
At Brindle & Bay, we use a withdrawal framework called risk-based guardrails. This is a dynamic withdrawal methodology that adjusts your spending range based on how your portfolio performs. Did you hit the upper guardrail? Great, you can safely spend more. Get too close to the lower guardrail? Time to make a temporary 5% reduction in monthly spending.
This creates a system that’s responsive, disciplined, and sustainable.
Jerry and Margaret saw how this method would give them peace of mind and control when retirement finally came. And once they internalized that future, their present behavior naturally started to align.
That’s what real planning does. It turns abstract goals into visible cause-and-effect decisions you can act on today.
The Bottom Line
Life can be messy, but if you want to retire comfortably (and stay retired!), you need more than a good savings rate. You need a plan that protects you from making choices that quietly drain your accounts over time.
If you’ve been leaning on your retirement account like a short-term cash reserve, or if you just want to make sure your savings are set up to actually last, we’d love to help.
Click here to schedule a no-cost consultation with our team. We’ll help you build a strategy that supports your future and help you protect it from hidden threats.
The client stories shared in this blog post are intended for illustrative purposes only. While inspired by real-life experiences, these examples are composites drawn from a range of client situations and do not represent any one individual. They may be considered indirect testimonials. Actual client experiences will vary. No clients were compensated for sharing their stories.
