Of those same participants, 94% saw an increase in their account balances, reflecting both a rise in contributions and strong returns from markets, according to the report.\u00a0<\/p>\n
COULD THE VANGUARD S&P 500 ETF BE YOUR TICKET TO BECOMING A STOCK MARKET MILLIONAIRE?<\/a><\/p>\n People review tax forms on a laptop computer. (iStock)<\/p>\n The average account balance for a Vanguard 401(k) was $167,970 in 2025, a near $20,000 increase from the 2024 average of $148,153. The median account balance, meanwhile, also increased year over year, rising from $38,176 in 2024 to $44,115 in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n One factor the report cites as a potential impact on the higher contributions is a shift in automatic employee enrollment.\u00a0<\/p>\n BEWARE THE TICKING TIME BOMB HIDING IN YOUR 401(K)<\/a><\/p>\n Some employers have shifted to automatically enrolling employees in 401k plans, with the share of Vanguard-defined contribution plans using automatic enrollment sitting at 61% in 2025 compared with just 10% in 2006.\u00a0<\/p>\n By reframing an employee’s decision into opting out, rather than voluntarily opting in, employers encourage significantly stronger participation in retirement plans, according to the report.\u00a0<\/p>\n “With an autopilot design, individuals are automatically enrolled into the plan, their deferral rates are automatically increased each year, and their contributions are automatically invested in a balanced investment strategy. In such a plan, the decision to save is framed negatively: \u2018Quit the plan if you\u2019d like.’ And \u2019doing nothing; leads to participation in the plan and investment of assets in a long-term retirement portfolio,” the report states.<\/p>\n American flags on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, on Aug. 18, 2025. (Michael Nagle\/Bloomberg via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Employees deferred a similar percentage of their total incomes into plans in 2025 when compared with 2024, though deferral rates have broadly trended up in the last decade.<\/p>\n LABOR DEPARTMENT’S PROPOSAL IS A ‘HUGE STEP’ FOR YOUR 401(K), BLACKROCK’S NEFOUSE SAYS<\/a><\/p>\n The average deferral was 7.6% of an employee’s income in 2025, the same as it was in 2024, per the report. The median rate was 6.6% in 2025 compared with 6.7% in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n A quarter of all participants had a deferral rate of over 10% of their incomes. That compared with just 20% of participants deferring more than a tenth of their income in 2016, the report noted. \u00a0<\/p>\n A younger person reviews bills on their desk and inputs them into a computer. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781905090_308_tax-planning-people-laptop-1.jpg\")
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