Only one in five self-directed brokerage account participants worked with an advisor in the second quarter, but those who did had eye-poppingly larger balances than non-advised participants, Charles Schwab reported Wednesday.
Advised SDBA participants had an average balance of $448,515 vs. an average balance of $234,673 for participants who did not have an advisor.
SDBAs are brokerage accounts within retirement plans, including 401(k)s and other types of retirement plans, which participants can use to invest in stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds, mutual funds and other securities that are not part of their plan's core investment offerings.
Gen X participants represented 43.9% of advised accounts, followed by baby boomers at 43% and millennials at 9.7%.
The report included data collected from some 142,000 retirement plan participants who currently have balances between $5,000 and $10 million in their Schwab Personal Choice Retirement Account. Researchers extract quarterly data on all accounts that are open as of quarter-end and meet the balance criteria.