americans may be afraid to look at their retirement accounts thanks to stock market volatility but many investors are still staying the course according to fidelity investments’ most recent data released thursday the savings rate for 401k plans reached a record level of 14 just one percentage point away from the recommended 15 fidelity suggests to retirement savers according to fidelity’s 2022 firstquarter data of its participants “we have more and more retirement savers not making changes based on shortterm market events” said mike shamrell a fidelity investments spokesman “they’re deciding to stay the course and taking a longterm approach” the majority of savers also didn’t tinker with their asset allocation and those who did were more likely to be older participants closer to retirement shamrell said of the 56 of 401k account holders who did make a change in the first quarter of 2022 most 82 only made one change only 44 of 403b account holders made a change to their plans in the first quarter and 87 of those who did made just one change “people are starting to understand this is something that is going to occur and that trying to make changes based on these shortterm events could have a negative impact on your longterm ability to save” shamrell said retirement saving incentives in the workplace such as automatic enrollment into retirement plans may be one reason why fewer investors made asset allocation changes shamrell said many participants especially younger workers have their savings in a targetdate fund which ties its asset allocation to a specific year such as 2055 or 2060 not all savers may have seen the benefits of their increased savings rates however retirement account balances declined from last quarter or the same time last year for example the average 401k balance was 121700 in the first quarter of 2022 down from 130700 last quarter and 123900 in the first quarter of 2021 ira balances were 127100 last quarter down from 135600 in the last quarter of 2021 and 130000 from the 2021 first quarter the average 403b balance was 107600 in the first quarter of this year down from 115100 in the previous quarter but up 300 from the same time the year before still a 1 million balance remains attainable – there were 40600 401k millionaire account holders in the first quarter of 2022 and 346800 ira millionaires shamrell said fewer workers took a loan from their 401k accounts too the number of people starting a new loan decreased for the third consecutive quarter – to just 2 in the first quarter – and the percentage of participants with an outstanding loan balance also dropped for the fourth consecutive quarter to 166 consistency has proven to be key among fidelity’s retirement plan participants for people who have contributed to the same 401k plan for the last five years the average balance grew from 115000 in the first quarter of 2017 to 257400 in 2022 those who have been in the same plan for the last 10 years saw their balances grow from 85100 in the first quarter of 2012 to 383100 in 2022 and participants of the same plan for 15 years had an average account balance of 64900 in the first quarter of 2007 to 482900 in 2022