{"id":376682,"date":"2026-03-09T23:40:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T23:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/376682\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T23:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T23:40:15","slug":"retirement-account-balances-surged-last-year-heres-what-made-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/376682\/","title":{"rendered":"Retirement Account Balances Surged Last Year. Here&#8217;s What Made the Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"yf-1p2hw41\">\n<li class=\"yf-1p2hw41\">\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">The average 401(k) and IRA balance rose 11% and 7%, respectively, between Q4 2024 and Q4 2025, according to a recent Fidelity analysis.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"yf-1p2hw41\">\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Some financial advisors believe that savers are more likely to stash away money in retirement accounts when the stock market is performing well.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Over the past year, retirement savers have watched their balances grow substantially thanks to a booming stock market and <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/the-retirement-rule-changes-for-2026-that-could-help-you-save-faster-11887636\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:increased contributions;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">increased contributions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">A recent analysis by Fidelity looked at tens of millions of IRA and 401(k) accounts and found the average 401(k) balance had increased more than 11% between Q4 2024 and Q4 2025. The average IRA balance rose 7% during that time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">In 2025, the S&amp;P 500 gained nearly 18% largely due to strong growth in AI stocks such as NVIDIA (NVDA), Meta (META), and Alphabet (GOOGL).<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">The solid performance of the stock market may have encouraged savers to stash more in their retirement accounts, according to some financial advisors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">&#8220;I have seen that once clients experience the benefit of a rising market and the <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/terms\/c\/compoundinterest.asp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:power of compounding interest;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">power of compounding interest<\/a>, they tend to be more motivated to continue to fund their retirement accounts,&#8221; wrote Zachary Bachner, a certified financial planner (CFP) at Summit Financial Consulting, in an email.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Long-term success in retirement savings depends on consistency. Regular contributions help you build wealth steadily without trying to time the market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">In Q4 2025, total IRA contributions were up 23% from the previous year. Additionally, the number of IRA accountholders making contributions increased 25%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">While seeing the market reach record highs might spur savers to contribute more to their retirement accounts, Joon Um, a CFP and owner at Secure Tax &amp; Accounting, notes that people shouldn&#8217;t just invest more because of strong market performance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">&#8220;We try to remind clients not to chase markets. The goal isn\u2019t investing more because the market just went up\u2014it\u2019s building the habit of consistent contributions regardless of market conditions,&#8221; wrote Um in an email.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Instead, savers should think about their <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/articles\/retirement\/11\/5-steps-to-retirement-plan.asp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:retirement plan holistically;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">retirement plan holistically<\/a>, estimating how much they&#8217;ll need to have saved for retirement and the amount they&#8217;ll need to contribute over time to reach that goal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">You may consider <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/should-you-do-your-own-financial-planning-11729150\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:working with a financial planner;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">working with a financial planner<\/a> who can help you run the numbers, but Fidelity also offers rough guidelines to help you see if you&#8217;re on track.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">The financial services company recommends that people allocate 15% of their income (including their employer match) to their 401(k) and suggests that people aim to save 10 times their pre-retirement income by age 67 if they want to maintain the same standard of living in retirement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The average 401(k) and IRA balance rose 11% and 7%, respectively, between Q4 2024 and Q4 2025, according&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[177],"tags":[79,18,58299,19,173485,171031,17,234,235,4036,12984,1402],"class_list":["post-376682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-eire","tag-fidelity","tag-ie","tag-ira-balance","tag-ira-contributions","tag-ireland","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-retirement-savings","tag-savers","tag-stock-market"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116201863576025422","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}