Fidelity's second-quarter retirement analysis, released September 3, counted 769,000 401(k) accounts holding $1 million or more. That is up from 654,000 at the end of March, a 19% jump in a single quarter, and close to 30% more than a year earlier. Fidelity also tallied 684,140 IRA millionaires, up from 571,622.
The stock market did most of the quarter's lifting. The S&P 500 rose roughly 10% in the first half of 2026, and average 401(k) balances climbed to a record $155,800. But the millionaires are only about 3% of Fidelity's 25.8 million accounts, and their profile says more than the count.
Who the Millionaires Are
Fidelity describes the average 401(k)-created millionaire as 58 years old and saving for 25 years. Their personal contribution rate averages 17.3% of pay. With the employer match added, the combined rate is 25.8%.
Gen X holds 62% of the seven-figure accounts, baby boomers about 31%, and millennials 6%. That split tracks tenure. A 58-year-old who started 25 years ago began around 2001 and kept contributing through the dot-com bust, the 2008 crisis, the 2020 crash, and the 2022 bear market.
Mike Shamrell, Fidelity's vice president of workplace thought leadership, said "much of the strong retirement savings we saw this quarter didn't happen overnight." On the millionaires specifically, he told CBS News: "It's not that they have reached that. It's how they did it. What was their behavior?"
The Gap Between Them and Everyone Else
The same report shows the average 401(k) participant saving 14.4% of pay, a record for the second straight quarter. That breaks down as 9.6% from the employee and 4.8% from the employer. Fidelity's long-standing guideline is 15% combined.
Set the two profiles side by side:
- Employee contribution: 17.3% for millionaires versus 9.6% for the average participant.
- Employer contribution: roughly 8.5 percentage points for millionaires versus 4.8 for the average.
- Combined: 25.8% versus 14.4%.
The employer half of that gap is notable. Millionaires draw about 8.5 points from their plans, which suggests richer match or profit-sharing formulas, or simply contributing enough to capture every dollar offered. Fidelity reports 81.2% of participants take the full match, leaving nearly one in five with employer money on the table.
The 17.3% figure also does not require a very large salary. At the 2026 deferral cap of $24,500, a 17.3% rate implies pay of roughly $142,000. Below that income, the constraint is behavior, not the IRS limit.
Practical Takeaways
- Benchmark your combined rate, not your balance. Add your contribution percentage to your employer's. If the total is under 15%, that is the first number to move.
- Capture the full match before anything else. It is the only guaranteed return in the plan, and 18.8% of Fidelity participants are still not collecting all of it.
- Use the age-based limits. Savers 50 and older can add $8,000 in catch-up contributions in 2026. Those aged 60 to 63 can add $11,250 instead, if their plan allows it. Anyone earning more than $150,000 in the prior year must make those catch-ups as Roth.
- Treat tenure as the asset. The average millionaire needed 25 years. Stopping contributions in a downturn forfeits the cheapest shares of the cycle.
- Watch the leakage line. The report found 19.5% of participants carrying a plan loan and 3% taking a hardship withdrawal, up from 2.6% a year ago. Both interrupt the compounding this profile depends on.
Sources: Fidelity Investments, Q2 2026 Retirement Analysis (September 3, 2026); Yahoo Finance, "Fidelity: 769,000 savers have $1 million or more in their 401(k)" (September 2026); CBS News, "Sturdy stock market mints a record number of 401(k) millionaires" (September 4, 2026); InvestmentNews, "401(k) millionaires reach another record in Q2, says Fidelity"; IRS, "401(k) limit increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA limit increases to $7,500."