HOW DOES YOU 401K BALANCE COMPARE TO OTHERS?

 As many of you know, the Vanguard group has the largest assets under management of any US mutual fund company. Recently, they published some data that I think many of you will find interesting.

For calendar year 2024, here are the average and median 401k balances among their customer base by age:

                                Average balance            Median Balance

Under 25              $6,899 $1,948

25-34                     $42,640                             $16,255

35-44                     $103,522                          $39,958

45-54                     $188,643                          $67,796

55-64                    $271,320                           $95,642

65+                        $299,442                           $95,425

Source: Vanguard, 2025

Okay, viewing this will likely produce a wide variety of responses. Some will not understand the difference between an average and a median. To refresh your memory, an average is a straight mix (mean)of all participants. Invariably, a relative handful of outliers with large or even huge balances will pull an average up. They are the top 10% of participants who skew all averages upward. The median, as we have often noted in this blog, represented the 50% percentile in this large sample. Approximately, one half are above or below this statistic.

To those of you doing the arithmetic, you will observe that the median balance tends be about 35-40% of the average.

If you look at your own 401k or 403b, do not be too upset by these data. You may have a nice pension that few have today, or you may live in a low taxed or low-cost state. So, your future may be more covered than you think.

Also, the New York Times followed up with a report about a week later stating that women in Generation Z, born 1997-2022, are much more aggressive about retirement contributions than men of that age. It appears that they are more financially savvy than previous generations.

Also, keep in mind that many with current seven figure balances have their retirement funds spread across several mutual fund families. Perhaps they worked at a few companies or, if the balance reached seven figures, they moved funds to other entities.

There are more millionaires in America than ever before. Many are retired. With current market levels as I type near or at all-time highs, this is not surprising. Had they shown balances of those 75+ rather than 65+, the odds are good that balances would show a decline from the 65+ data.

Remember that equities are higher now than last year so balances would be larger than what I provided above. Again, do not forget that many of us have retirement accounts with more than one firm. 

Minimum Required Distributions (MRD) kick in at age 72 and you can begin withdrawals without penalty as early as age 59 ½.

Markets fluctuate so some years participants will gain and during others they will lose.

If you would like to contact Don Cole directly you may reach him at doncolemedia@gmail.com or leave a message on the blog.

Streaming Video is Officially The New King!

 Last month, I was away on vacation and my e-mail began filling up with people asking me to comment on Nielsen’s reporting that US households now spent more time with streaming services than they did with broadcast and cable TV combined.

No one should really be surprised by this news, but it does represent a watershed moment for both streaming and the TV industry.

Back in May 2021, the Nielsen company released their initial report of The Gauge. Since that time, in four years, streaming became the largest viewing format and sported an increase in usage of 71%. When Nielsen began The Gauge, streaming measurement was limited to Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Disney+ and You Tube. As we type, some 11 streaming platforms were incorporated into the May 2025 data. 

You may hear some media wonks use the term SVOD. It stands for Subscription Video on Demand (streaming). Netflix began streaming way back in 2007. Two financial giants involved are Amazon (Amazon Prime Video) and Apple. They can play the long game in streaming as they have arguably the deepest pockets in measured business history. I expect both to get bigger in to sports as they can outbid potential rivals without taking undue corporate risk. It is certain that both watched  the delivery of the NFL games streamed on Netlfix on Christmas Day last year which broke a record for live streamed audience.

A lot has happened since The Gauge kicked off four years ago. Then, broadcast and cable combined had two thirds of all TV time and streaming was 26%. Now that has flipped and some 78% of US households have at least one streaming service. This compares to cable peaking a few decades ago at around 72%.

How has streaming done it? Many people like the option of viewing commercial free. Others like the quality of the programming with many niche players such as Acorn and Britbox from the United Kingdom picking up a loyal following.

A big sleeper in streaming growth has been older Americans. As many cable channels began to rely on reruns of old series, older Americans have been embracing streaming. One reason is their children and grandchildren. While this is admittedly anecdotal, several people over 65 have told me that their children or grandchildren have set them up on a streaming platform or two. After a couple of months of subscribing and then binge watching the new fare, their young family members have taught them how to cancel and move on to other services. Several months later, they go back to an original service or two. One elderly lady told me that she cancelled cable at over $120 per month and now spends under $30 per month for streaming services and her enjoyment of her viewing options has soared. 

A forgotten player in all this is YouTube. Nielsen projects that 12.5% of TV time in May was on You Tube. Google has yet to monetize it fully, but that day may come. As an old movie buff, I sometimes find films on You Tube that are not available on any of my streaming services. Some have commercials, some do not.

Here are the Nielsen leaders in terms of share of TV Time in May 2025:

You Tube                              12.5%

Netflix                 7.5

Disney                                     5.0

Amazon Prime.                       3.5

Roku Channel                         2.5

Paramount                               2.2

So, our world is changing. It will be fun to revisit this issue in a few years and see how the viewing merry go round has developed.

To all of my American readers who now make up 42% of the Media Realism (MR) audience, I wish you a Happy 4th of July.

If you would like to contact Don Cole directly, you may reach him at doncolemedia@gmail.com or leave a message on the blog.