Login | July 02, 2026
Current 401(k) Trends and Educational Opportunities
JULIE JASON
Published: July 2, 2026
Are you missing an opportunity to help others save as much as they can for retirement?
Just based on demographics, you likely know someone who works for a company that offers a 401(k) with a match or company contribution.
There are more than 730,000 plans, representing $10.1 trillion of retirement assets for 70 million participants, according to Investment Company Institute's "Resource Hub: 401(k)" (available at tinyurl.com/22v8rnke) and "Quarterly Retirement Market Data, Fourth Quarter 2025" (available at tinyurl.com/yutue4xd).
More than 90% of large plans (over 100 employees) offer employer contributions, according to the Investment Company Institute/ISS Market Intelligence's "Defined Contribution Plan Profile: A Close Look at 401(k) Plans, 2023," with large plans offering 29 investment options, on average (tinyurl.com/24rkrc3c).
That brings up an opportunity for employees -- and for me, as a proponent of financial literacy education, a challenge -- a potential problem to solve.
Are employees taking full advantage of their matches? To do that, the employee needs to know how the match works. Are nonparticipants knowledgeable about how to "afford" to participate?
People do value companies offering a 401(k). Transamerica Institute's "Employers, Workers, and the New World of Work" report, released in May of this year, indicated that of 6,100-plus workers surveyed in 2025 who were employed by a for-profit company, 84% somewhat or strongly agreed that retirement benefits would be a major factor in their final decisions the next time they looked for a job (tinyurl.com/r376r6hw).
Are they motivated to learn how to maximize benefits? When surveyed, 73% of workers who were offered a 401(k) plan said they would like to receive more information and advice from their employers on how to reach their retirement goals. Transamerica Institute is a nonprofit foundation focused on retirement security.
We all know there are gaps in knowledge. The Spark Institute's national survey "Financial and Retirement Literacy Among Students and Recent Hires," released in November 2025, found that 81% of recently hired adults (ages 18 to 40, who started their current job in the past five years) were able to successfully identify a 401(k) as an employer-sponsored retirement plan. Those numbers fell to 54% for college students currently enrolled or just graduated, and 41% for high school students currently enrolled or just graduated (tinyurl.com/44n6z5y6). The Spark Institute is an advocacy organization for the retirement plan industry.
Those gaps can be narrowed. There are companies and pro bono advocates such as myself who are looking to increase 401(k) financial literacy at all levels.
For example, the financial technology company Humaninterest.com, which provides retirement plans (primarily 401(k)s) for small and medium-sized businesses, offers an employee section that contains a number of articles related to saving for a retirement through a 401(k) (tinyurl.com/j9e68vwx).
Gaps can also be filled by co-workers. Having a mentor at your job who encourages you to save in a 401(k) is invaluable. It's also a foundation of the 401(k) Champion Competition, my pro bono national award contest that's mission is to raise awareness of the benefits of tax-advantaged retirement savings through the voices of 401(k) participants.
By the way, if you would like to tell your story about why you "love" your 401(k), now is the time to do that. The 2026 competition launches on June 15, which is National 401(k) Champion Day. Three winners, announced in September on National 401(k) Day, will be recognized as 401(k) Champions, and each will receive a cash award of $1,000. See 401kchampion.com for more information.
The Federal Reserve's "Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2025" research and analysis study, released in May 2026, reported that 61% of adults had a tax-preferred retirement account, such as a 401(k) or an IRA -- including 73% of those between the ages of 55 and 64 (tinyurl.com/bdsuvz4n). Yet only 35% of non-retirees said their retirement savings were "on track."
Retirement savings opportunities present themselves if you work for a company offering a 401(k). Yes, it takes some effort to learn how to maximize those opportunities. And, yes, the time spent is worth it.
Seasoned investment counsel (tinyurl.com/52nus8hz) and award-winning columnist and author, Julie Jason, JD, LLM, promotes financial literacy and investor protection. Read her latest book, "The Discerning Investor: Personal Portfolio Management in Retirement for Lawyers (and Their Clients)" (tinyurl.com/4u7h9pjs), published by the American Bar Association. Write to Julie at readers@juliejason.com. While all questions cannot be answered, each email is read and reviewed and can lead to discussion in a future column.
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