How much did the COVID-19 pandemic impact Americans' retirement savings in the past year? Earlier this year, Personal Capital polled 1,000 people with a retirement account to understand how many were following best practices, what changes they had considered since the pandemic's onset, and what they had done differently in preparing for retirement. The findings, released in February, showed that 53% of respondents were currently contributing to their 401(k) every paycheck, with people in their 30s likeliest to say they were doing so. Forty-nine percent said they were receiving the maximum match from their employer. About one in five reported that they were currently retired. In addition, many employers needing to cut costs in order to survive had temporarily reduced 401(k) contributions. Only 33% of respondents said they were aligning their retirement accounts with their goals and risk tolerance. In a new study, Personal Capital scanned the country to find out how people's retirement savings stacked up. Researchers analyzed the retirement accounts of its 2.8 million dashboard users on an anonymized basis, ranking the 50 states and the District of Columbia by average retirement account balances as of April 3, 2021. They assumed location data based on a user's IP address. Here's a breakdown by generation of users on the Personal Capital platform:
- Gen Z: 105,452 users; average balance $35,197; median balance $10,904
- Millennials: 700,116 users; average balance $166,430; median balance $71,485
- Gen X: 357,352 users; average balance $568,750; median balance $290,807
- Baby boomers: 182,774 users; average balance $1,029,840; median balance $570,789
- No age data: 301,192 users; average balance $277,151; median balance $63,210
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Michael S. Fischer
Michael S. Fischer is a longtime contributing writer for ThinkAdvisor. He previously reported on trade and intellectual property topics for the Economist Intelligence Unit and covered the hedge fund industry for MARHedge and Reuters News Service.
