THE BULK OF 401(K) ASSETS CONTINUED TO BE INVESTED IN STOCKS: On average, at year-end 2010, 62 percent of 401(k) participants' assets were invested in equity securities through equity funds, the equity portion of balanced funds, and company stock. Thirty-three percent were in fixed-income securities such as stable value investments and bond and money funds. SEVENTY PERCENT OF 401(K) PLANS INCLU...

401(K) LOSSES FROM THE ECONOMIC CRISIS: During 2008, major U.S. equity indexes were sharply negative, with the S&P 500 Index losing 37.0 percent for the year, which translated into corresponding losses in 401(k) retirement plan assets. But how individual 401(k) participants are affected by the crisis is largely determined by their account balance, age, and job tenure. IMPACT VARIES BY ACCOUNT B...

• The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and the Investment Company Institute (ICI) have collaborated to develop the EBRI/ICI 401(k) Accumulation Projection Model. This model examines how 401(k) assets might contribute to retirement income for future retirees based on decisions workers make throughout their careers and finds that the median replacement rate from 401(k) accumulations dep...

The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and the Investment Company Institute (ICI) have been collaborating for the past two years to collect data on participants in 401(k) plans. This effort, known as the EBRI/ICI Participant-Directed Retirement Plan Data Collection Project, has obtained data for 401(k) plan participants from certain of EBRI and ICI sponsors and members serving as plan r...

This Issue Brief examines the 1999 contribution behavior of 1.7 million 401(k) plan participants drawn from the EBRI/ICI Participant-Directed Retirement Plan Data Collection Project. The findings in this paper build on previous academic research examining the contribution activity of 401(k) participants, by using a large sample of participants in a wide range of plan sizes and by examining in d...

This Issue Brief provides an initial analysis of the potential financial impact on private-sector retirement benefits of the retirement savings account cap included in the Obama administration's FY 2014 budget proposal. It finds that although a very small percentage of current 401(k) participants with IRA accounts have combined balances sufficient to be immediately affected by the proposed limi...

Two issues may have a tremendous impact on the adequacy of retirement income for American workers. The first is the growth of 401(k) pension plans, which allow participants to contribute, before taxes, a portion of their salary to a qualified retirement account.1 By 1998, the most recent year that published information is available, 401(k) plans accounted for about 41 percent of all pension pla...

EBRI, ICI Maintain Largest 401(k) Participant Database Over the past two decades, 401(k) plans have grown to be the most common type of employer-sponsored retirement plan in the United States, and now serve as the most popular defi ned contribution (DC) plan, as measured by number of participants and assets. In 2005, 47 million American workers were active 401(k) plan participants.1 By year-end...