First posted on Instagram
President Donald Trump has told voters to check their retirement accounts before heading to the polls, making the state of Americans' 401(k)s a central part of his closing message ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. At a midterm campaign rally in Perry, Georgia, Trump said some retirement accounts are up as much as 80% under his leadership, telling supporters that "nobody's ever seen anything like it."
Trump also took aim at former President Joe Biden, claiming retirement savings fell by 25% during Biden's administration.
The retirement-account pitch is one Trump has returned to repeatedly. On September 28 he told White House reporters their 401(k)s had doubled. In August he told Fox News that 401(k)s were the highest they had ever been. In his February 24 State of the Union address he said the typical 401(k) was up almost $30,000 since he returned to office, and an April 30 White House fact sheet put the average rise at more than $24,000.
The data behind the claims is more modest than the headline figures. Fidelity reported an average 401(k) balance of $155,800 in the second quarter of 2026, $18,000 more than at the end of 2024. Between December 31, 2024 and March 31, 2026, the average increase was $9,454, and PolitiFact rated the $30,000 claim Mostly False, noting no age group came close to half that figure. Individual gains vary widely depending on contributions, timing and how accounts are invested.
The 25% figure Trump cites for the Biden years traces to a Heritage Foundation and Committee to Unleash Prosperity study, which found the real, inflation-adjusted value of the average 401(k) fell 24.8% under Biden — about $17,000, or almost 13%, in nominal terms in the first two years, with inflation eroding further value.
At October rallies in North Carolina, South Carolina, Iowa and Florida, Trump also said 401(k)s had "more than doubled" or were "about 60 percent higher." Fact-checkers put the S&P 500 up roughly 30% since the end of 2024 and about 12% in 2026 — a strong run, but not a doubling for typical accounts.
Trump is putting retirement savings at the centre of his election argument as voters prepare to decide control of Congress on November 3.