Fidelity's 401(k) record rests on plan design more than market gains

The average 401(k) balance at Fidelity climbed 10.5% in the second quarter to a record $155,000, the strongest quarterly gain since the end of 2020, and the average 403(b) account set a record at $145,000; IRA balances also touched record highs after a first quarter in which average 401(k) and IRA balances had both slipped from their end-of-2025 peaks.

The rebound lands just as advisors field client questions about whether steady contributions still make sense amid economic uncertainty. Fidelity's answer sits in the behavior beneath the balances: 81.2% of participants saved enough to capture the full employer match, combined savings rates held at 14.4% for 401(k)s and 12% for 403(b)s — both just shy of the firm's 15% recommended benchmark — and IRA contributions rose 36% from the prior year.

That behavioral readout extends a savings momentum that has run through 2026. Target-date assets had already topped $5.3 trillion at mid-year, and the second-quarter numbers suggest the push is coming from contributions as much as from market gains. "Workers continue to prioritize their financial future," said Sharon Brovelli, Fidelity's president of workplace investing, pointing to match participation and sustained contribution rates as evidence that savers are not abandoning long-term plans over short-term noise.

Elsewhere in the data, women who have stayed continuously in a 401(k) for at least five years crossed a $250,000 average balance for the first time, and female IRA investors averaged more than $130,000, up 12% from a year earlier. Fidelity's sentiment polling shows the tension underneath the records: 55% of respondents said they are concerned about the economy, 46% are stressed about inflation and the cost of living, 42% are unsettled by the geopolitical environment, and just over a third — 36% — described their financial health as good or excellent.

The small-business figures show the same pattern. Retirement accounts for self-employed 401(k)s, SEP IRAs, and Simple IRAs have grown 178% since 2021, contributions are up 46% over the same stretch, and the segment supplied 28% of all retail retirement contributions in the second quarter. Fidelity notes that nearly half the U.S. workforce is employed by small businesses.

For plan sponsors, the report is a verdict on design: record match capture alongside majority anxiety says the contribution structure, not confidence, is doing the stabilizing work, and automatic features are the mechanism a plan can carry into the next downturn.