401(k) savers who stay the course win

by Jake Simms

Posted in: In this week's e-newletter, Latest News & Views, Retirement Planning

Here’s news worth passing along to skittish clients:

401(k) participants who kept their equity allocations the same and continued saving during the recession saw an average account balance increase of 50%, as of June 30, 2011.

But plan participants who changed their contributions to 0% during the worst months of the recession (between Oct. 1, 2008 and March 31, 2009) and never moved any funds back to equities, saw an average balance increase of just 2%, as of June 30.

These findings were based on a Fidelity Investments study of more than 20,000 401(k) plans with more than 11.6 million participants.

Tags: 401k, fidelity, fidelity investments, recession, retirement planning, roth 401k

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