The average account balance for all plan participants using self-directed brokerage accounts with Schwab ended 2019 with a 19% increase year-over-year and a 6% increase from the third quarter of 2019, the company said.
At the end of the fourth quarter, the self-directed brokerage account balance was $294,105, according to Schwab’s analysis of about 142,000 retirement plan participants who have balances between $5,000 and $10 million in their Schwab Personal Choice Retirement Account.
Mutual funds, which held the majority of participant’s asset, remained largely the same as last year at 37%. Within the mutual funds, large stock funds had the largest allocation at 30%, taxable bond funds at 20% and international funds at 15.8%, all similar to last year.
Following mutual funds, participants’ assets were also allocated in equities (29%), ETFs (19%), cash (12%) and fixed income (3%). Fourth quarter trading volumes were slightly higher compared to the previous quarter, at an average of 7.2 trades per account, up from 6.7 in the third quarter.
Apple stock continues to be the top overall equity holding, increasing quarter-over-quarter from 9.5% of the equity allocation of portfolios to 11%; Amazon followed with 5.5%; Microsoft with 2.6%; Berkshire Hathaway with 2.4%; and Facebook with 1.6%.
U.S. equity ETFs held on to be the top ETF holding for Schwab Personal Choice retirement accounts, with investors allocating 49.7% in the fourth quarter. That was followed by U.S. fixed income with 15.2%, international equity with 14.7% and sector ETFs with 10.5%.
Gen X, the report noted, had a higher participation (42%) in the self-directed brokerage accounts. Baby boomers followed with 38% and millennials came in at 13%.
Additionally, Schwab said 76% of participants were male and 24% were females, and the average age of participants was 51.