The average 401(k account balance showed a considerable increase at the end of 2010, as per one new study released by Fidelity Investments. On average, accounts held seventy one thousand five hundred dollars during the year, which was the highest average account balance disclosed by Fidelity in ten years.

Accounts were up by eleven percent from the year of 2009

Fidelity Investments got a lot of positive numbers to share regarding the increases in 401(k) accounts. One great bit of data was that, for the seventeen thousand employer-sponsored defined contribution plans and their eleven million participants, the average balance of their retirement accounts went up by eleven percent over the average balance in the final quarter of 2009.

The fact that was even better was that after 401(k) accounts got hugely affected from the financial crisis, some even losing more than fifty percent of their balance in 2008 and 2009, they managed to increase in the tune of 7.65 percent over the accounts in 2000 that averaged fifty four thousand and seven hundred dollars.

The study further revealed that about sixty six percent of the increases seen were boosted by market performance while thirty three percent increased due to participant actions like contributions. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index got hiked by about thirteen percent last year, and according to the study, workers delayed an average of 8.2 percent of their salaries.

The report also figured out those savers who were persistently active, meaning they were employed by the plan sponsor and had a balance for the entire period of ten years; saw their plans getting three fold during that time. The average 401(k) balance increased from fifty nine thousand one hundred dollars in the month of December 2000 to one hundred and eighty three thousand and one hundred dollars in the month of December of 2010.