Fewer Americans are blowing their retirement savings on cars,televisions and electronics when they quit their jobs. Most workerswho choose to take a lump-sum distribution from their retirementplan roll it into an IRA or other savings vehicle or use that moneyto pay down debt or buy a house.

Only a small percentage of workers—7.5 percent—spent their lumpsum retirement savings on mindless consumption when they left theirjob in 2012, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute.That’s a major improvement from years past. In 1993, for instance,22.7 percent of those who received a distribution blew the money onnonessentials. That figure dropped to 15.1 percent through2003.

The number of workers who roll their accounts into tax-qualifiedsavings accounts has increased sharply since 1993, according toEBRI, with 45.2 percent of those receiving a distribution through2012 doing so.