Participants in 401(k) plans had about two-thirds of their accounts invested in equity funds, the equity portion of balanced funds and company stock as of Dec. 31, according to a study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and the Investment Company Institute. The percentage of assets invested in equities has varied between 62% and 77% over the past 10 years.
The study, "401(k) Plan Asset Allocation, Account Balances, and Loan Activity in 2005," also found that among participants who had 401(k) accounts from 1999 through 2005, the average account balance increased 50% to $102,014 as of Dec. 31, 2005.
EBRI and ICI studied information for 17.6 million 401(k) accounts in 47,256 plans with more than $1 trillion in total assets. The database covers 37% of the universe of 401(k) participants, 11% of 401(k) plans and 42% of 401(k) plan assets.
