Investment firm reports all-time high of 401(k) millionaires

The second quarter of 2024 saw a record high of retirement investment millionaires, Fidelity Investments reported on Wednesday. As one of the leading retirement investment management companies in the world, Fidelity manages roughly 48 million Americans’ retirement accounts. Those include 401(k), IRA, and 403(b) retirement plans, the company said.

What does this mean, an all-time high of retirement investment millionaires? Nearly half a million Americans became millionaires through their 401(k) retirement plan investments in the second quarter of 2024, Fidelity said. That’s slightly more than the roughly 485,000 Americans who became millionaires the same way during the first quarter of the year. Nearly 400,000 Americans became millionaires through their IRA retirement plan investments, Fidelity said—roughly 20,000 more than became millionaires through their IRAs in the first quarter.

Why so many retirement investment millionaires this year? Fidelity credited strong market conditions and strong worker contributions for its accounts’ investment success. It’s important to make consistent contributions to retirement accounts despite a fluctuating market, Fidelity said. Meanwhile, billionaire Warren Buffett’s investment firm Berkshire Hathaway on Wednesday grew to 1 trillion in market value, according to Business Standard.

The Federal Reserve last week signaled it would soon begin reducing its key interest rates. The central bank has kept rates at around 5.25-5.5 percent for more than a year in a bid to slow the U.S. inflation rate to 2 percent. The inflation rate was at about 2.5 percent last month, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said. Lowering interest rates often increases the value of the shares 401(k) account holders own in different companies, according to investment firm John Hancock.

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