{"id":361137,"date":"2026-03-23T16:47:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T16:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/361137\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T16:47:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T16:47:22","slug":"trump-says-the-only-thing-really-going-up-big-is-your-401ks-but-hardship-withdrawals-just-hit-a-record-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/361137\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Says ‘The Only Thing Really Going Up Big’ Is Your 401(k)s \u2014 But Hardship Withdrawals Just Hit a Record High"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Markets can rise fast, but so can pressure behind the scenes. President Donald Trump has pointed to growing retirement balances as a clear sign of economic strength, yet new data suggests many Americans are still reaching into those accounts<\/a> to stay afloat.<\/p>\n

During a December rally<\/a> at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, Trump tied market gains directly to retirement savings<\/a>. “I mean, the only thing that it’s really going up big, it’s called the stock market and your 401(k)s,” Trump said.<\/p>\n

That message carried into Washington. In his State of the Union<\/a> address last month, Trump said “your 401(k)s are way up.” He added, “Since I took office, the typical 401(k) balance is up by at least $30,000.”<\/p>\n

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The data backs up part of that claim. Fidelity Investments, the nation’s largest 401(k) provider, reported<\/a> the average 401(k) balance rose to $146,400 in 2025, an increase of $14,700, or 11%, year over year.<\/p>\n

Individual retirement accounts followed a similar path. The average IRA balance climbed to $137,095, up $9,561 or 7% from the previous year.<\/p>\n

Vanguard<\/a> reported even broader gains across retirement plans. The average account balance reached $167,970 in 2025, a 13% increase, largely driven by strong market performance throughout the year.<\/p>\n

Trending: Think you’re saving enough for your kids? You might be dangerously off \u2014 see why<\/a><\/p>\n

While balances grew, borrowing activity ticked up<\/a> as well. Fidelity found 19.4% of participants had an outstanding 401(k) loan in 2025, up slightly from 18.9% the year before.<\/p>\n

More telling is the rise in hardship withdrawals, a separate category that reflects deeper financial strain. Fidelity reported 2.7% of participants took a hardship withdrawal in 2025, up from 2.5% in 2024.<\/p>\n

Vanguard’s data paints an even clearer picture. Roughly 6% of workers took a hardship withdrawal in 2025<\/a>, marking a record high and a sharp increase from pre-pandemic levels.<\/p>\n

The reasons behind those withdrawals point to real financial strain. Vanguard found the median hardship withdrawal was $1,900.<\/p>\n

The most common reasons were preventing foreclosure or eviction, which accounted for 36% of withdrawals, followed by medical expenses at 31%.<\/p>\n

See Also: Before you make an offer, ask these 6 questions every homebuyer should know \u2014 or face serious regret later.<\/a><\/p>\n

Housing pressure is a major factor. ATTOM Data<\/a> reported 367,460 U.S. properties had foreclosure filings in 2025, up 14% from the prior year.<\/p>\n

That trend has continued into 2026. February alone saw 38,840 properties<\/a> with foreclosure filings, a 20% increase year over year, while foreclosure starts rose 14% to 25,928.<\/p>\n

More than one-third of hardship withdrawals are going toward keeping a roof overhead.<\/p>\n

The contrast is hard to ignore. Retirement balances are climbing, fueled by market gains, yet a growing share of savers are pulling money out early.<\/p>\n

For some households, rising account values may look reassuring on paper. But the increase in withdrawals suggests that for many, those gains are being offset by immediate financial needs.<\/p>\n

Even as retirement balances rise, some investors are looking for ways to position their portfolios to capture market momentum \u2014 for example, with diversified or sector-focused ETFs like those offered by Direxion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read Next: Experts say these common ETF pitfalls can catch new investors off guard<\/a><\/p>\n

Image: Imagn<\/p>\n

Up Next: Transform your trading with Benzinga Edge’s one-of-a-kind market trade ideas and tools. Click now to access unique insights<\/a> that can set you ahead in today’s competitive market.<\/p>\n

Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga:<\/p>\n

This article Trump Says ‘The Only Thing Really Going Up Big’ Is Your 401(k)s \u2014 But Hardship Withdrawals Just Hit a Record High<\/a> originally appeared on Benzinga.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Markets can rise fast, but so can pressure behind the scenes. President Donald Trump has pointed to growing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[72,969,48887,176,57852,57849,61,32328,60,163306,163327,174,175,1830],"class_list":["post-361137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-donald-trump","tag-fidelity-investments","tag-finance","tag-hardship-withdrawal","tag-hardship-withdrawals","tag-ie","tag-individual-retirement-accounts","tag-ireland","tag-market-gains","tag-mount-airy-casino-resort","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-retirement-savings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}