Insta_photos | Istock | Getty Images<\/p>\n
Retirement\u00a0account<\/a>\u00a0balances, which sank at the start of 2025 amid wild market swings<\/a>,\u00a0hit record highs in the third quarter, according to the latest data from Fidelity Investments, the nation’s largest provider of 401(k) savings plans.<\/p>\n The average\u00a0401(k)<\/a>\u00a0balance jumped 9% from a year ago\u00a0to $144,400, an all-time high,\u00a0Fidelity found<\/a>.<\/p>\n The average\u00a0individual retirement account<\/a>\u00a0balance also rose 7% year over year\u00a0to $137,902.<\/p>\n Fidelity’s report showed increased interest in Roth 401(k)s and IRAs, particularly among younger savers.<\/p>\n Like a traditional\u00a0401(k), Roth 401(k)s let you contribute up to $24,500, which is the new, higher limit for 2026<\/a>. But a key difference\u00a0is that contributions to a Roth 401(k) are taxed upfront so withdrawals in retirement are tax-free.<\/p>\n Roth 401(k) plans are similar to\u00a0better-known Roth IRAs although the contribution limits vary. With a Roth IRA, savers under the age of 50 can make after-tax contributions up to $7,500 a year<\/a>, as of 2026, and then take tax-free withdrawals in retirement.<\/p>\n “Retirement is about taking a long-term view, and the growing interest in Roth products shows that investors recognize their potential for tax advantages and long-term growth,” Robert Mascialino, president of wealth at Fidelity Investments, said in a statement.<\/p>\n While other research points to retirement saving shortfalls across generations<\/a>, Fidelity’s “numbers tell a different story,” said Mike Shamrell, Fidelity’s vice president of thought leadership. “We’re seeing a lot of positive behaviors among younger workers, especially Gen Z.”<\/p>\n Number of 401(k), IRA millionaires hit all-time highs<\/p>\n The gains in account balances also helped boost the number of\u00a0401(k) millionaires<\/a>\u00a0to a fresh high.\u00a0<\/p>\n The number of 401(k) accounts with a balance of $1 million or more jumped to 654,000 as of Sept. 30, up 10% from the second quarter, according to Fidelity.<\/p>\n The number of IRA-created millionaires also increased by 11.5% from the previous quarter to a record 559,181.<\/p>\n More from Fixed Income Strategies:<\/p>\n Stories for investors who are retired or are approaching retirement, and are interested in creating and managing a steady stream of income:<\/p>\n Positive savings behaviors were key to better outcomes, Shamrell said.<\/p>\n The majority of retirement savers\u00a0continued to make contributions, even during periods of market turbulence. Although there have been concerns about the economy, “the good news is, as of now, it has not turned into any sort of pullback on their retirement savings efforts,” Shamrell said.<\/p>\n The average 401(k) contribution rate, including employer and employee contributions, held steady at 14.2%, Fidelity found, just shy of their suggested savings rate of 15%.<\/p>\n A great stretch for the major indexes also helped.<\/p>\n U.S. markets came under pressure after the White House first announced country-specific tariffs on April 2, causing some of the\u00a0worst trading days<\/a>\u00a0for the\u00a0S&P 500<\/a>\u00a0since the early days of the Covid pandemic.<\/p>\n However, markets rebounded in the second and third quarter.\u00a0Through Sept. 30, the\u00a0Dow Jones Industrial Average<\/a>\u00a0was 9% for the year, the\u00a0S&P 500<\/a>\u00a0was higher by 14% and the\u00a0Nasdaq Composite<\/a>\u00a0was up 17%.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Insta_photos | Istock | Getty Images Retirement\u00a0account\u00a0balances, which sank at the start of 2025 amid wild market swings,\u00a0hit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[910,138,553,1222,246,2338,111,139,69,244,245,2532,45990],"class_list":{"0":"post-145074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-bonds","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-business-news","11":"tag-economic-events","12":"tag-finance","13":"tag-investment-strategy","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz","17":"tag-personal-finance","18":"tag-personalfinance","19":"tag-retirement-planning","20":"tag-suppress-zephr"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}