Please click on chart above to enlarge.
Source: Fidelity
Fidelity recently released their Q4 2018 Retirement Account Balances press release. I focus on these numbers because of Fidelity's size. They have $6.7 trillion in client assets, including more than 30 million retirement accounts. Here are a few items to highlight from their press release:
- As of Q4, more than half (50.6 percent) of 401(k) savers are 100% invested in a target date fund.
- The average 401(k) contribution in 2018 was $6,850, which ties a record high, and the average total IRA contribution in 2018 was $4,200, a 10 percent increase over the average total contribution for 2017.
- Despite market swings, investors did not make significant changes to their 401(k) investments. Only 5.6 percent of 401(k) investors made a change to their asset allocation in Q4, including investors who have their savings in a target date fund or managed account. Of those investors who made a change to their 401(k) asset allocation, over two- thirds (67.4 percent) only made one change last quarter.
- The number of 401(k) and IRA millionaires declined. The number of people with $1 million or more in their 401(k) dropped to 133,800 at the end of Q4, while the number of IRA millionaires decreased to 138,800. At the end of Q3 2018, the number of people with $1 million or more in their 401(k) had increased to 187,400 and IRA millionaires totaled 170,400 people.
