Spring 2009
Loans, Withdrawals and Exchanges Remain Steady
Despite economic and market downturns in 2008, participant activity with respect to loans, hardship withdrawals and exchanges remained almost the same between 2007 and 2008, according to a new analysis.
This study, conducted by Fidelity Investments, looked at the activities of 11 million participants in more than 17,000 401(k) plans.
In 2007, 9.7 percent of participants initiated a plan loan. That number declined slightly to 9.0 percent in 2008.
Hardship withdrawals were up only a very small amount in 2008 to 1.8 percent of all participants, compared to 1.6 percent for the year before. The average amount of such withdrawals was $6,000.
Exchanges between investment options were requested by 13.9 percent of participants in 2008, down from 14.2 percent in 2007. Only 2.9 percent of participants who had all of their plan assets in lifecycle funds requested an exchange last year.
These and other topics are covered in the year-end 2008 analysis.
