When the Government Accountability Office talks about preventing leakage from 401k plans, it isn’t talking about the bear market that siphoned a big gusher of money out of your account. That, presumably, would have been difficult to prevent. Rather, a new GAO study focuses on the money we remove ourselves through loans, hardship withdrawals and decisions to cash out when leaving a job. These actions all hurt one’s retirement security, but they’re common — 15 percent of 401k participants initiate some sort of leakage from their accounts. The biggest amount — $74 billion — leaks when people change jobs and cash out.

This is particularly common, of course, when people are losing their jobs and suffering financial stress. And, from a retirement-security standpoint, now is about the worst time to take money out, the GAO says:

Such reductions in retirement savings may be even more pronounced if the leakage occurs at a time when a participant’s account balance has already experienced market value losses.

The study focuses on how government policies influence the amount of 401k leakage. The IRS’ 10 percent tax penalty, for instance, discourages early withdrawals. But a companion rule — which requires anyone taking a hardship withdrawal to wait 6 months before resuming contributions — magnifies the amount of leakage, the GAO says. It wants Congress to consider eliminating that waiting period.

Most workers don’t think about the long-term consequences of taking out cash, the study says, even though a 30-year-old cashing out a $5,000 account is reducing his or her eventual nest egg by more than $30,000. A few employers explain this, but most don’t, the study says:

For example, one plan provided participants with an online calculator tool that allows participants to determine what effect a loan and its associated tax implications might have on their future retirement benefit. However, few plans that we contacted provided participants with information on the long-term consequences of taking loans from their accounts.

Some employers also make it too easy to get a hardship withdrawal; participants are supposed to exhaust the plan’s loan option first.

Even with a few regulatory changes and better investor education, however, a lot of people are going to continue to cash out before retirement age. It’s human nature and, as the study notes:

There are many reasons why participants may choose to use their retirement savings prior to retirement, and some of these choices may involve a rational trade-off between immediate financial emergencies and future retirement needs.