A rising number of plan participants are making early 401(k) hardship withdrawals. A report by Vanguard found that 4.8% of participants initiated a hardship withdrawal in 2024, which us up from 3.6% in 2023.
What will happen in 2025? That all depends. Is this market correction just a temper tantrum dealing with temper tantrum tariffs? Or is this the harbinger of a recession? Time will tell and when times are tough, people lose jobs and people have financial hardships.