Despite the stock market's growing recovery, fewer 401(k) assets are invested in equities than before the 2008 crisis, says a new report by Spectrem Group.

According to the research firm’s latest Retirement Market Insights Report 2013, released Tuesday, 401(k) plan investors held 36 percent of their assets in diversified equities in 2012, compared with 40 percent in 2006 and a low of 29 percent in 2008. Unlike equity holdings, investments in company stock have not rebounded at all since the financial crisis: In 2006, they were at 19 percent and by 2008 they had dropped to 13 percent, where they remained in 2012.

Although 36 percent of affluent investors, those with at least $100,000 in investable assets, are more confident in the stock market than they were in the past, a significant number (28 percent) are still less confident, according to Spectrem. Thirty-seven percent have not changed their confidence level.

“The 2008 economic crisis was a defining moment for most investors, and it continues to affect their investment decisions today, ” says George H. Walper Jr., president of Spectrem Group. “The impact is especially evident in how they are managing their 401(k) assets and in their worries about being able to retire.”

Nearly half, 46 percent of plan participants close to retirement age, from 55 to 64 years old, say they are not saving enough to meet their financial goals, Spectrem says.