As employees approach retirement age, their financial ability to retire -- often referred to as retirement readiness - is of vital importance to employers as they seek to ensure a smooth transition from one generation of employees to another.

However, a growing number of employers are finding that their employees' ability to retire has been made more difficult by having to rely primarily on defined contribution (DC) plans to generate a substantial portion of their retirement income.

There are several ways employees can use their DC plan assets, though, and one alternative involves drawing down DC plan assets more rapidly during the early years of retirement while deferring the receipt of Social Security benefits to age 70.