401(k) Accounts Reach a 10-Year High, but Not High Enough
Feb. 24, 2011 -- There's good news about your 401(k)--and bad.
Right now the average 401(k) balance stands at a 10-year high. That's according to Beth McHugh, vice president of Fidelity Investments, which administers some 17,000 retirement plans for 11 million would-be retirees. 401(k)s, which have been around for 30 years, are the most widely used vehicle for saving for retirement.
By the end of 2010, says McHugh, the average account balance had risen to $71,500. Savers who've been actively contributing to an account for ten years saw their average balance hit $183,100, up from $59,100 at the end of 2000. Those increases are attributable in part to the rebound of the stock market and to the fact that 401(k) participants are saving more: For seven straight quarters, Fidelity says, participants have been increasing the part of their paychecks that they're saving, from 3 percent to a little over 6 percent.
Contrary to myth, says McHugh, most employers did not suspend making matching contributions to employee 401(k)s during the recession. A few high-profile companies, including FedEx, did suspend them, earning headlines. But even during the very worst of the recession, between 2008 and 2009, only 8% of employers reduced or eliminated their matching contributions. And since then, she says, more than half of those have reinstated their matching contributions or have said they plan to do so in the next 12 months. Bigger companies—ones with 5,000 or more employees—are in the vanguard of that trend, with over 70% saying they've already reinstated matching funds or intend to do so.
McHugh refutes another misconception: During the recession, she says, most people did not cash out or take loans against their accounts. Only one out of five participants took out a loan. Even seven out of ten employees who lost their job, were laid off, or otherwise separated from an employer resisted the temptation to cash out their account.
Fidelity's findings derive not just from the behavior of higher-income savers but from lower-income ones as well. More than half (53 percent) of the participants in 401(k) plans earn between $20,000 and $40,000; 71 per cent earn $40,000 to $60,000.
