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Charles Schwab reported this week that retirement plan participant account balances within its self-directed brokerage accounts averaged $252,675 at the end of the first quarter.
This was down 5.9% year over year, and down by 14.1% from the fourth quarter.
First-quarter trading volumes nearly doubled, which was in line with broader investor activity as coronavirus-spurred market volatility sent major stock indexes plunging, Schwab said. SBDA participants averaged 13 trades per account, up from seven in the previous quarter.
Asset allocations were on a par with last quarter, with cash holdings being the only exception. Mutual funds held 34% of participant assets, equities 27%, cash 19% (up from 12% in the fourth quarter), ETFs 17% and fixed income 3%.
On average, participants held 10 positions in their SDBA accounts at the end of the first quarter, similar both to last year and last quarter.
Schwab's quarterly SDBA report includes data collected from some 145,000 retirement plan participants with current balances between $5,000 and $10 million in their Schwab Personal Choice Retirement Account.
SBDA participants can use their brokerage accounts to invest retirement savings in stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds, mutual funds and other securities that are not part of their retirement plan's core investment offerings.
Gen X made up 42.6% of SDBA participants in the first quarter, baby boomers 37.2% and millennials 13.9%.
Boomers had the highest SDBA balances at an average of $367,425, followed by Gen X at $199,071 and millennials at $65,207.
