Despite the volatile stock market, retirement saving continued to be a strong focus for defined contribution plan participants through the first half of 2022, according to new research from the Investment Company Institute (ICI).
The study found most plan participants did not change their asset allocations, even as the stock market declined during the first six months of the year. In the first half of 2022, 6.6% of plan participants changed the asset allocation of their account balances, slightly lower than 7.3% in the first half of 2021, 8.3% in the first half of 2020, and 7.7% in the first half of 2009.
In the first half of 2022, 2.9% of plan participants took withdrawals, compared with 2.8% in the first half of 2021, 2.8% in the first half of 2020 (as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S.), 2.5% in 2019, and 1.8% in the first half of 2009 (another time of stock market stress). Only 1.6% of plan participants stopped contributing in the first half 2022, compared with 1.1% in the first half of 2021, 2.0% in the first half of 2020, and 4.6% in the first half of 2009.
