Guess Who's Back?

Guess Who’s Back?

No…not the Duke Brothers.  According to Fidelity, the 401(k) investor is no longer holding a 201(k) or even a 301(k) as we started calling them in the depths of the Credit Crash.

From Reuters:

Stock market gains helped drive up balances in the average U.S. 401(k) retirement-savings account to a record $74,900 as of March 31, up 12 percent from a year ago, said Fidelity Investments.

The total is the highest since the giant Boston fund firm began tracking the figures in 1998. Fidelity gave the number in its quarterly update on 401(k) accounts to be released on Wednesday.

The optimist in you will say “Hey great, all those worries about my father having to eat cat food in 3 years were totally unfounded.”

The cynic in you will say “OK, that’s nice – too bad their purchasing power will have been completely whittled away by the printing presses regardless of how much their stocks have come back.”

And as in all things, the truth shall be somewhere in the middle.

And Lo, There Shall Much Rejoicement in the Cubicles Hither and Yon – you’re grandmother will not have to become a sex slave in Eastern Europe after all.

Source:

Fidelity says average 401(k) balance near $75,000 (Reuters)