{"id":4673,"date":"2026-03-05T03:43:37","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T03:43:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/05\/retirement-balances-are-up-but-more-workers-took-hardship-withdrawals\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T03:43:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T03:43:37","slug":"retirement-balances-are-up-but-more-workers-took-hardship-withdrawals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/05\/retirement-balances-are-up-but-more-workers-took-hardship-withdrawals\/","title":{"rendered":"Retirement balances are up, but more workers took hardship withdrawals"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump said “your 401(k)s are way up” \u2014 and they are, but hardship withdrawals are also up, new data shows. The average 401(k) balance rose by $14,700 to $146,400 over the course of 2025, ending the year up 11% from a year earlier, according to new data released Wednesday from Fidelity Investments, the nation’s largest provider of 401(k) savings plans.<\/p>\n

The average individual retirement account balance also gained $9,561 to $137,095 in 2025, Fidelity found \u2014 a 7% increase year over year. Retirement account balance averages increased by 13%, driven primarily by market gains, a separate report by Vanguard Group found. Across all plans, the average account balance was $167,970 as of the end of 2025, according to Vanguard’s report, also released Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Market Gains and Savings Behaviors<\/h2>\n

Rising balances were further buoyed by several “nonfinancial factors,” such as positive savings behaviors, said Mike Shamrell, Fidelity’s vice president of thought leadership. The average 401(k) contribution rate, including employer and employee contributions, now stands at 14.2%, just below Fidelity’s suggested savings rate of 15%. However, another good stretch for the major indexes did help: The S&P 500 notched its third consecutive year of solid gains, rallying 24% in 2023, 23% in 2024 and 16% in 2025. The Nasdaq jumped 20% in 2025, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose nearly 13%.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

401(k) Hardship Withdrawals Rise<\/h2>\n

Still, savers also tapped their accounts to free up cash, which experts say indicates underlying financial strain. The share of workers with an outstanding loan in 2025 was 19.4%, up slightly from 18.9% in 2024, according to Fidelity. About 9% of workers took out a new loan from their 401(k) last year, including for hardship reasons. That’s down from 9.5% in 2024. The share of workers taking a hardship withdrawal, which is broken out separately, rose to 2.7% last year from 2.5% in 2024.<\/p>\n

\"Tax
\n<\/p>\n

Vanguard’s report also showed an uptick in hardship withdrawals. Roughly 6% of workers took a hardship withdrawal in 2025, a record high. For more information on the current state of retirement savings, including data on 401(k) balances and hardship withdrawals, you can visit the source link Here<\/a><\/p>\n

Smart Tip for Readers<\/h2>\n

To make the most of your retirement savings, consider reviewing your 401(k) or IRA account regularly to ensure you’re on track to meet your long-term financial goals, and explore resources to help manage financial stress and avoid hardship withdrawals when possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump said “your 401(k)s are way up” \u2014 and they are, but hardship withdrawals are also up, new data shows. The average 401(k) balance rose by $14,700 to $146,400 over the course of 2025, ending the year up 11% from a year earlier, according to new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/image.cnbcfm.com\/api\/v1\/image\/108269747-1772011258409-gettyimages-2262892787-SOTU.jpeg?v=1772564311&w=1920&h=1080","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4673","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4673"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4675,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4673\/revisions\/4675"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sosahustle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}