The average 401(k) saver held $155,000 in their account as of the second quarter, according to new data from Fidelity, which the firm said marked a 10.5% jump from the prior three-month period and the strongest quarterly gain since the end of 2020.
The rebound followed a rockier start to the year and comes as advisors field client questions about whether steady contributions still make sense amid economic uncertainty.
Fidelity also found that average 403(b) balances rose to a record $145,000 across the plans it tracks, up 11.5% from the first quarter. Combined savings rates held at 14.4% for 401(k) participants and 12% for 403(b) participants – both just shy of Fidelity's recommended 15% benchmark.
Among the report's standout findings, savers increased IRA contributions by 36% compared with a year earlier, and more than eight in 10 401(k) participants – 81.2%, per the underlying data – saved enough to capture their full employer match.
In a small win for women investors, women who had continuously participated in a 401(k) for at least five years crossed the quarter-million-dollar average balance mark for the first time, while female IRA investors reached an average balance above $130,000, up 12% from a year ago.
The Q2 rebound in retirement savings also follows a softer first quarter, when average 401(k) and IRA balances had dipped from their Q4 2025 peaks even as contribution rates hit records.
Sharon Brovelli, president of workplace investing at Fidelity, tied the numbers to underlying behavior rather than markets alone. "Workers continue to prioritize their financial future," she said, pointing to record employer-match participation and sustained contribution rates as evidence that savers are not abandoning long-term plans over short-term noise.
A read on savers' sentiment in the second quarter by Fidelity found 55% were concerned about the economy, including 46% who were stressed about inflation and the cost of living. Just slightly fewer respondents, 42%, said they were unsettled over the geopolitical environment. Despite those overarching misgivings, 36% of people in Fidelity's polling said they felt "good" or "excellent" about their financial health.
The report's other headline finding concerns small employers. With nearly half the U.S. workforce employed by small businesses, Fidelity said small-business retirement accounts – including self-employed 401(k)s, SEP IRAs and Simple IRAs – have grown 178% since 2021, with contributions up 46% over the same stretch.
According to Fidelity, small business retirement account contributions accounted for 28% of all retail retirement contributions in the second quarter, while SEP and Simple IRA contributions represented a combined 64% of contributions to small business retirement accounts. Millennial investors were the most active cohort among small business retirement savers, representing up 42% of self-employed 401(k) contributors and 41% of Roth self-employed 401(k) contributors.
All in all, more than 25,000 participants are now saving through Fidelity Advantage 401(k), the firm's pooled employer plan built for smaller employers.
Bob Mascialino, president of wealth at Fidelity, framed the growth as a story of growing access, pointing to expanding retirement plan availability to owners and their employees as "one of the most meaningful ways ... to confidently grow wealth throughout their lifetimes."
A Capital Group survey last year found millennial business owners leading adoption of retirement planswith cost and administrative complexity still the biggest barriers cited by owners who haven't started one. Advisors working with small-business clients may find that data useful context for why enrollment has been uneven even as balances climb industry-wide.
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