Nevin's Data "Points"

   There were some   good headlines   about 401(k)s last week — but the numbers underneath those “averages” were even better. Those headlines — reporting on  Fidelity’s Building Financial Futures: Q1 2025 report  — noted that savings rates hit a record high in Q1, driven by a milestone employee contribution rate of 9.5%, and an employer contribution rate of 4.8% — the highest level to date in that survey. Those types of increases have previously been noted in surveys by the Plan Sponsor Council of America, but this one commented that the combined savings rate of 14.3% is the closest it’s ever been to Fidelity's suggested savings rate of 15%.  That said, when you look inside those averages — Fidelity noted that Boomers [i]  actually had a total savings rate of 17.2%, buoyed by a  12%  employee savings rate, while Gen Xers had a 15.4% total savings rate (a  10.3%  employee savings rate). Gen Z’s 7.3% employee savings rate and Mil...

  How well do you (think you) know your significant other? The passage of time—shared experiences and the process of getting to know each other reveals much—and yet I learned something new about my partner of some four decades just last week! That brought to mind one of the favorite game shows of my youth was  The Newlywed Game . The show featured four couples—all of which were to have been married less than two years. Each of the contestant couples were separated—then asked a series of questions designed to test these newlywed couples’ knowledge of each other, and in some cases their collective memories (and willingness to share publicly). Points were assigned based on answers that matched—but the most memorable, of course, were the missed matches—and the inevitable response of the spouse who was absolutely CERTAIN of the response of their partner.   Now, a year of marriage is arguably not long enough to know EVERYTHING about your partner. But, and with Valentine’s ...

 Our industry has long fretted over how 401(k) participants will respond to volatile markets. And perhaps not surprisingly, these days the headlines are, generally speaking, full of “stay the course” assurances.    That said, as recently as a month ago the headlines—even OUR headlines read things like “Light 401(k) Trades in July Even as Wall Street Posts Strong Month, Hot July Brought Cool 401(k) Traders , July Brings Much-Needed Calm to 401k Trading Activity, 401(k) Trading Light in July Despite Market Gains.” As though this is a surprising result. In fact, as long as I can remember, our industry (or at least its headline writers) has long been somewhat amazed that participants have been as “resilient” in the face of volatile markets as they have—consistently—been over time. We’ve rationalized that ostensibly rational behavior in different ways, at different times. In 1987 (before there was daily trading in 401(k)s) it was said that the markets had ...

You may have missed it, but there was a bit of a “twitter storm” regarding retirement last week. More specifically, a relatively innocuous post about how much a 30-year-old should have saved toward retirement got a lot of 35-year-olds stirred up. The CBSMarketwatch article  quoted Fidelity as saying that you should have a year’s worth of salary saved by the time you’re 30 – but the real point of controversy  appears to have been driven by the premise that by the time you’re 35, you were supposed to have twice your salary saved. 1 The point, of course, is that it’s easier if you start early. But honestly, devoting 15% of your pay to retirement savings at any age is a daunting prospect, much less at a point when college debt and the prospects of a mortgage, kids and setting aside money for the kids’ college savings loom large. If this is “easy,” imagine what hard looks like! I’ve been a consistent saver over my working career – never missed an opportunity to s...