Quoting Fidco data The recent bear market has left many investors frustrated. But is that disappointment justified? Advertising Disclosure: When you buy something by clicking links on our site, we may earn a small commission, but it never affects the products or services we recommend. Chris Kissell • March 1, 2023 PeopleImages.com – Yuri A / Shutterstock.com The stock market has been in the doldrums for more than a year, and that fact might have you discouraged about the prospects of building a solid nest egg. However, if you take a longer view, you might see that despite the recent market turmoil, things look a lot better for your retirement savings than you probably imagine. In the past decade, savers have seen their retirement accounts grow by a substantial amount, according to new research from Fidelity Investments. Fidelity recently released its fourth-quarter and year-end 2022 analysis of the state of the more than 43.4 million IRA, 401(k) and 403(b) retirement accounts on the company’s platform. As part of this analysis, the investment company also highlighted how much richer savers have grown during the last decade. Following are those numbers. Individual retirement accounts Andrey_Popov / Shutterstock.com At Fidelity, the average IRA balance was $104,000 in the fourth quarter, an increase of 2% since the prior quarter ($101,900) and a jump of 36% since a decade prior ($76,700). 401(k) accounts Andrey_Popov / Shutterstock.com The average 401(k) balance at Fidelity was $103,900 in the fourth quarter, an increase of 7% since the prior quarter ($97,200) and up 34% from a decade before ($77,600). 403(b) accounts Jason Stitt / Shutterstock.com Those with a 403(b) account — a type of retirement plan offered by public schools and certain 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations and also referred to as a tax-sheltered annuity (TSA) plan — at Fidelity also saw their portfolios grow in a big way. See Also: We’re About to Retire: How Can We Be Sure We’ve Saved Enough? The average 403(b) balance at Fidelity was $92,683 in the fourth quarter of 2022, an increase of 6% since the prior quarter ($87,400) and a rise of 56% over the past 10 years ($59,600). How to increase returns in your portfolio Rawpixel.com / Shutterstock.com Regardless of where you are in your investment journey, there are things you can do today to help fortify your nest egg. Money Talks News founder Stacy Johnson is a millionaire several times over, and he got there the old-fashioned way: by working hard and building wealth slowly over time. Stacy often shares his insights about how to become a better saver and investor in his podcast. For example, late last year, he offered his list of “15 Money Moves for a Richer New Year.” You can find more of Stacy’s podcasts on this website. Another way to sharpen your money skills is to learn more about saving, investing and other aspects of day-to-day financial life. Money Talks News offers two courses than can help you increase your investing and saving knowledge:
Don't fall for the Wall Street hype: The Federal Reserve is mostly responsible for "growing" stock prices: https://www.currentmarketvaluation.com/posts/fed-balance-sheet-vs-sp500.php
There have been real earnings gains. Whether those were caused by the fed, I don’t know. If you didn’t participate, then you are poorer than everyone else. In my blue (read rich) state the top one percent earnings threshold was 500k in 2013. Today that threshold is 1mm.
Long and Strong the SP 500 index for the rest of my life. Thank you so much Warren Buffet and John Bogle for the best investment advice you given me for my life.
%% Good increase; cant give the Fed all the blame or credit. AS if a rate cut or vice versa is an auto pay. LOL .That would not even be true if wealth or Roth........was limited to public equity or bond markets + its not. THAT would not even be true/ even if some one lived off bank interest.
I wonder how much of the increase is due to the devaluing of the $. Same with housing, oil, etc... Pretty soon, everyone will be a millionaire.
until 2021 inflation was almost zero. Then in 2021-2022 it spiked a lot but over 10 years probably not a lot more than the target of 3percent per year. (If even that high). And justt because there’s inflation doesn’t mean everyone becomes a millionaire. Really smart elitetraders who understand the scam the fed is playing will remain poor.
Naive article given that the past decade saw prices rising mostly as a function of unprecedented central bank printing. Very few companies created true value that justified their stock price appreciation. Lots of hype built into the market at current levels. Valuations are still way too rich and are far removed from fair value as measured by discounted future profits. A good case can be made that the gravy train ended and that the bills are soon coming due from years of exuberance and mindless borrowing against the future.