--- title: Last Year’s Stock Market Plunge Wiped Out a Third of 401(k) Millionaires description: The number 401(k) millionaires — investors whose 401(k) accounts are worth $1 million or more — shrunk by a third as stocks plunged in 2022. authors: - name: Adam Hardy role: Lead Data Reporter url: https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/ bio: Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. Adam’s work has also appeared in Business Insider, Forbes, Nasdaq, The Penny Hoarder, Yahoo! Finance and more than a dozen local and regional newspapers. education: University of South Florida, BA, Magazine Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 504 covers: - Retirement - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - The Penny Hoarder - Forbes Advisor - Creative Loafing - The New York Times - The Washington Post - Bloomberg - Harvard Law School - The Federal Register - National Consumer Law Center - CBS News - Becker's Hospital Review - Business Insider - Mother Jones - The Week - Fortune - The Philadelphia Inquirer - National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NAFSAA) - Education Advisory Board (EAB) - The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) - This Morning with Gordon Deal - Empower - Reddit social: - https://www.x.com/hardyjournalism - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardyjournalism/ editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Retirement - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2023-02-27T18:12:31.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T13:04:41.000Z' section: Retirement tags: - 401(k) - News word_count: 356 canonical: https://money.com/drop-in-401k-millionaires-stock-market/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Business Man Holding Large Cracked Egg Labeled 401k With Cash Flying Out Of It](https://img.money.com/2023/02/News-Big-Decline-401k-Millionaires.jpg) After a dismal year for the stock market, the number of folks who can claim 401(k) millionaire status has shrunk considerably. ## What the research says The number of 401(k) millionaires has plummeted by 32%, according to data the asset management firm Fidelity Investments shared with Money. - A "401(k) millionaire" is someone whose [401(k) retirement account](https://money.com/what-is-a-401k-rollover/) is worth at least $1 million. - At the end of 2021, Fidelity says it managed 442,000 401(k) accounts with balances of $1 million or more. One year later, that total dropped to 299,000 — a decrease of more than 32%. - Similarly, many Americans lost their status as [individual retirement account](https://money.com/what-is-an-ira/) (IRA) millionaires due to plunging balances of those accounts as well. - Fidelity says there were 280,320 IRAs worth at least $1 million at the end of 2022, a 25% decrease from the prior year. Of the roughly 22 million 401(k)s managed by Fidelity, only a tiny fraction — about 1.4% — are 401(k) millionaires. ## Key context In 2022 investors suffered through the [stock market's worst year since 2008](https://money.com/investor-tips-after-stocks-worst-year/). - The [S&P 500](https://money.com/what-is-the-sp-500-index/?ref=/average-401k-balance-2022-stock-market/) — the benchmark stock market index — tumbled more than 19% last year, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell almost 9% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq cratered 33%. Because many Americans have their nest eggs in retirement accounts tied to stock performance, the balances of 401(k)s, IRAs and 403(b)s were clobbered as markets fell and hardship withdrawals ticked up. - Last year, [average 401(k) balances](https://money.com/average-401k-balance-2022-stock-market/) dipped 20.5% — from $130,700 in 2021 to $103,900 in 2022, according to Fidelity. - IRA balances saw a loss of 23% on average, tumbling from $135,600 to $104,000 over that same period of time. Not long ago, the number of retirement account millionaires [was at a record high](https://money.com/401k-millionaires-retirement-accounts-record-high/): 753,600 in mid-2021, according to a previous analysis by Fidelity. At the time, [stocks](https://money.com/how-to-buy-stocks/) were soaring, and Americans — whose spending was limited by pandemic-related lock downs — were socking away their cash at record rates. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/drop-in-401k-millionaires-stock-market/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Retirement", "item": "https://money.com/retirement/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "401(k)", "item": "https://money.com/401k/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Last Year’s Stock Market Plunge Wiped Out a Third of 401(k) Millionaires" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/drop-in-401k-millionaires-stock-market/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/drop-in-401k-millionaires-stock-market/", "name": "Last Year’s Stock Market Plunge Wiped Out a Third of 401(k) Millionaires", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2023-02-27T18:12:31.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/drop-in-401k-millionaires-stock-market/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/drop-in-401k-millionaires-stock-market/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T13:04:41.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Last Year’s Stock Market Plunge Wiped Out a Third of 401(k) Millionaires", "articleSection": "Retirement", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2023/02/News-Big-Decline-401k-Millionaires.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Big-Decline-401k-Millionaires" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adam Hardy", "url": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/#author", "description": "Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. 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