A Need to Work Together

The government and policymakers must work together if the 401(k) plan is going to remain the dominant private-sector device for retirement savings, said Paul Schott Stevens, president of the Investment Company Institute (ICI), at the ICI’s 50th annual conference May 7.

Stevens urged retirement plan participants with mutual fund investments to “stay the course” in these tough times for the markets. He noted that the average account balance of workers who remained in the same 401(k) plan from 1999 to 2006–a period that included a serious bear market–jumped nearly 80%, from $67,800 to $121,000 including contributions.