(Photo: Shuttestock)

The average 401(k) balance in workplace retirement plans for which Fidelity is the recordkeeper hit an all-timehigh in the last quarter of 2019, at $112,300.

That marked a 7 percent increase from the third quarter of lastyear, and a 17 percent increase from the end of 2018.

And it's nearly double the average balance of $62,600 at the endof 2009, when retirement savers were still reeling from theretirement crisis and beginning to recover from 2008's pillage.

Strong equity markets are behind record-breaking averages. Lastyear alone, the S&P 500 returned 28.9 percent, just shy of2013's 29.6 percent.

The index has only had two losing years since the financialcrisis, in 2015 and 2018.

But Fidelity's data shows that improved plan design and bettersavings habits have also influenced higher accounts.

The average individual savings rate was 8.9 percent in thefourth quarter of 2019, also a record high. When accounting foremployer matches, the average savings rate was 13.5 percent.

Last year, one-third of employees increased their savings rateby an average of 3 percent. Four in 10 did so on their own; six in10 were increased via auto-escalation features.

Record number of 401(k) millionaires

There are more 401(k) millionaires than ever in Fidelityplans.

By the end of the year, 233,000 savers had at least $1 millionin their accounts. Fidelity's 401(k) data comes from 23,000 plansand 17.3 million participants.

Long-term savers—those defined as being in their 401(k) plansfor at least 10 consecutive years—had an average balance of$328,200. Savers invested for 15 years had an average accountbalance of $421,700.

Longer-tenured female savers' balances averaged $261,000, thefirst time that demographic's average surpassed a quarter milliondollars. Millennials with 10 years of savings averaged $149,000,also a record high.

More employers using auto-features

By the end of last year, 35 percent of employers wereautomatically enrolling new hires, a record level. More than athird are auto-enrolling at a 5 percent or higher deferral rate,compared to just 12 percent that did so at the end of 2009.

Nearly one in five employers have implemented automaticescalation of savings rates, more than twice the number a decadeago. One-third of plans offered a managed account option to savers,double as many as did at the end of 2014. But take-up rates, whileincreasing, are still low, as adoption of managed accounts was only3.6 percent in 2019.

IRAs hitting records too

The average IRA balance was $115,400 at the end of 2019, anotherrecord and nearly twice the value of the average account a decadeago. There were 208,000 IRA millionaires, an increase from 182,400from the third quarter last year.

Contributions to IRAs are increasing, as the number ofmillennials contributing to an individual account increased by 21percent.

Millennials contributed $373 million to IRAs in the fourthquarter of last year, 73 percent of which went to Roth IRAs.

READ MORE:

• 401(k) year in review: 7 highlights of2019
• 401(k), IRA, pension contribution limits for2020
• How many investment options should you giveretirement savers?