Average balances of 401(k) retirement plans were about 62% higher as of March 31 than the first quarter of 2009, when the stock market reached a 12-year low, according to Fidelity Investments.
The average account balance in the U.S. was $74,600 compared with $46,200 at the end of the first quarter of 2009, according to a report released Tuesday by Fidelity. The S&P 500 index fell about 40% in the 12 months ended March 31, 2009.
The stock market recovery and renewed commitment to saving has driven the increase, Beth McHugh, vice president of market insights for Fidelity, said in an interview Monday.
“We’re seeing the benefits of strong markets,” Ms. McHugh said. “We saw the account balance growth more attributable to the market than contributions.”
Stock market performance accounted for about 80% of the average $5,500 increase in the first quarter of 2012 compared with the prior quarter, while the remaining 20% was from employer and worker contributions, Fidelity said. The S&P 500 rose about 12% in the first three months of this year.
The growth in the accounts comes as Americans continue to say they’re worried about outliving their savings and Congress weighs limiting contributions or reducing the tax advantages of the plans.
Workers’ confidence in their ability to retire remains historically low, with about 14% saying they were very certain they’d have enough to live on comfortably, according to a March survey from the Employee Benefit Research Institute. That compares with a high of 27 percent in 2007.
Fidelity has almost 12 million participants in about 20,000 employer-sponsored defined contribution plans. The firm changed its average balance calculation last year to include 401(k) accounts that are sold through advisers as well as directly through the company, Ms. McHugh said. Using the prior methodology, average account balances were $74,900 at the end of the first quarter last year, Fidelity data show.
About 10% of workers increased their savings rate during the first quarter of this year, compared with 4% who decreased it, according to the report.
“Even with the market and its unpredictability we’re not necessarily seeing people shy away from contributing,” Ms. McHugh said. Participants saved 8% on average of their salaries, which was unchanged from last year, she said.
The Fidelity data on average balances look at single accounts and don’t include additional savings workers may have in individual retirement accounts or multiple 401(k)s, Ms. McHugh said. The median account balance at the end of the first quarter was $23,000, Fidelity said.
