Fidelity National Information Services Inc

Months of market swings have taken a heavy toll on retirement savers.

The average 401(k) balance sank for the third consecutive quarter and is now down 23% from a year ago to $97,200, according to a new report by Fidelity Investments, the nation’s largest provider of 401(k) plans. The financial services firm handles more than 35 million retirement accounts in total.

The average individual retirement account balance also plunged 25% year-over-year to $101,900 in the third quarter of 2022.

Still, the majority of retirement savers continue to contribute, Fidelity found. The average 401(k) contribution rate, including employer and employee contributions, held steady at 13.9%, just shy of Fidelity’s suggested savings rate of 15%.

“The market has taken some dramatic turns this year,” Kevin Barry, president of workplace investing at Fidelity, said in a statement. “Retirement savers have wisely chosen to avoid the drama.”

“One of the most essential aspects of a sound retirement savings strategy is contributing enough consistently — in up markets, down markets and sideways markets — to help reach your goals,” Barry said.

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Just 4.5% of savers changed their asset allocation in the most recent quarter, with most moving their savings into a more conservative investment option, Fidelity said. Some retirement savers seem to have been spooked after suffering big losses amid worries tied to inflation, interest rates, geopolitical turmoil and other factors, 401(k) administrator Alight Solutions also found.

‘It’s best to take a long-term approach to retirement’

“We encourage people not to make changes to their account based on short-term market events because often that can do more harm than good,” said Mike Shamrell, Fidelity’s vice president of thought leadership.

“It’s best to take a long-term approach to retirement.”

And despite the ongoing inflationary pressure straining most households, only 2.4% of plan participants took a loan from their 401(k), Fidelity said.

Federal law allows workers to borrow up to 50% of their account balance, or $50,000, whichever is less. However many financial experts similarly advise against tapping a 401(k) before exhausting all other alternatives since you’ll also be forfeiting the power of compound interest.

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CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Monday offered his 2022 outlook for the 10 worst-performing stocks in the S&P 500 last year, when the broad equity index advanced nearly 27%.

The “Mad Money” host also shared his expectations for the S&P 500’s biggest winners on Monday’s show.

“The worst performers in the S&P last year look like they’re going to keep underperforming in 2022 unless we get some major sea-changes and I just don’t see that happening” in the near or medium term, Cramer said.

1. Penn National Gaming

Cramer said he believes Penn National Gaming, which saw its stock fall 40% last year, will be challenging to own until a trio of major headwinds dissipate. In Cramer’s opinion, Penn National shares will be able to perform better once there’s more consolidation in the industry, more states legalize sports betting and the Covid pandemic fully recedes.

2. Global Payments

While Cramer said Global Payments had been a “perennial winner,” the financial technology company’s stock struggled in 2021, falling 37%.

“I’ve always admired Global Payments, as well as the card issuers and the small business empowerment plays and the buy-now pay-later outfits, but there are just too many darned stocks in the group,” Cramer said. “They’re all too expensive, especially compared to the super-cheap bank stocks that should get a huge profitability boost as the Fed raises rates.”

3. Las Vegas Sands

Las Vegas Sands shares lost nearly 37% last year, and Cramer said it’s still a tough environment to own a casino operator with a large presence in the gaming hub of Macao.

4. Activision Blizzard

KIEV, UKRAINE

SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

Activision Blizzard’s 28% decline in 2021 could be for a number of reasons, Cramer said, including investors expecting the video game company to struggle as the economy reopened from Covid closures and title release delays. Cramer said another reason is newspaper reports that have been critical of CEO Bobby Kotick. However, the company has pushed back against the validity of the reporting.

Cramer said he thinks Activision Blizzard may actually rise of Kotick leaves the company “because it’s a hit driven business that’s not generating the kind of hits people have come to expect, perhaps because they don’t want to work for Bobby anymore.”

5. MarketAxess Holdings

While MarketAxess Holdings had a first-mover advantage around the digitization of bond trading, Cramer said that’s no longer the case as the field has filled up with competition. “I don’t see how MarketAxess can come back without a massive spike in bond trading, and I think that’s already in the rearview mirror,” Cramer said.

6. Viatris

Cramer isn’t optimistic about Viatris, a generic drug play created in late 2020 when Pfizer spun off its Upjohn division which then merged with Mylan. “The only thing really intriguing about Viatris is that it sells for four times earnings, but that’s usually a red flag and on-patent big pharma stocks are cheap, too,” Cramer said.

7. Citrix Systems

“I’m not sure what to do with this much-less proprietary software company that might be put up for sale at the urging of some powerful activist investors,” Cramer said. “If they walk away, I have no idea what Citrix is worth, other than the fact that it was down 27% last year and it once traded much higher. These guys used to be the king of business collaboration software … but now it’s become a very crowded industry.”

8. Wynn Resorts

A pedestrian with an umbrella walks in front of the Wynn Palace casino resort, operated by Wynn Resorts Ltd., in Macau, China, Jan. 31, 2018.

Billy H.C. Kwok | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Cramer said his outlook on Wynn Resorts is similar to that of Las Vegas Sands. He noted that while he owns Wynn Resorts in his charitable trust, his favorable view on the stock has been wrong to date. Cramer said he thinks Wynn Resorts, which fell about 25% in 2021, could be “stuck in a rut” until the Covid pandemic subsides.

9. IPG Photonics

IPG Photonics, which makes and sells fiber lasers, saw its stock fall 23% last year. However, Cramer said he believes IPG Photonics shares have the best chance of any on this list to rebound in 2022.

“It’s got real earnings, but it had a shortfall thanks to weakening Chinese sales that crushed the stock. I know that IPG Photonics is, therefore, in the doghouse. But it has very good prospects, which is why it still sells for 35 times earnings.”

10. Fidelity National

Fidelity National shares fell about 23% in 2021, which Cramer said largely due to the fact the company is involved in financial technology. “It’s done nothing wrong other than being in a cohort that’s despised and I don’t see any of that changing soon,” he said.

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