Here’s some news you’ll want to pass along to staffers who are concerned about the rollercoaster ride the market’s been on recently.
401(k) participants who kept their equity allocations the same and continued to save during the recession saw an average account balance increase of 50%, as of June 30, 2011.
But participants who changed their contributions to 0% during the worst months of the recession (Oct. 1, 2008 and March 31, 2009) and never moved any funds back to equities saw an average balance increase of just 2% as of June 30.
These findings were based on a Fidelity Investments study of more than 20,000 401(k) plans with more than 11.6 million participants.
