401K Return on Investment?

It depends if the 9.5% is for the total of two years or compounded for two years (i.e. 9.5% for year one, and 9.5% again for year two). The latter is pretty good - the first is poor. I write this assuming about a 60/40 split in stocks/bonds.

S&P 500 for two years (total): 12.68%

Barclays Agg Bond for two years (total): 5.01%

60/40 combo: 7.608 + 2.004 = 9.612%..so your funds are tracking fairly well against the market (with this kind of asset class weighting). If you're more heavily weighted in stocks your performance should be better. Keep in mind that fees can kill performance and that you can't invest directly into the S&P 500 index (you can only hope to "mirror" the index by investing in a fund that seeks to reflect the S&P 500's performance).

Since you don't mention your age, I can't say whether you should invest (save) more, however, keep in mind that you work for about 2/3 of your adult life (age 25-65 = 40 years) and are retired for about 1/3 of your adult life (assuming you live to age 85 = 20 years). Not accounting for the return (growth) of your investments, this means you should be saving approximately 30% of your income every year. This may seem extreme but you don't want to have to decide between groceries and medication when you're 75. So generally, I would say invest more, especially if you're over 40.

Your options for investments in your 401(k) should include what is called a "target" fund, which invests in assets according to the target date of your retirement at age 65 - becoming more liquid and producing more income (vs. price appreciation) as you approach retirement. I strongly urge you to allocate your contributions to the target fund. It is unlikely that you could outperform the professional money managers by choosing your own allocations.

not really enough information to answer.

Is that a total improvement of 9.5% or 9.5% per year?

We don't know how aggressive you want to be..

If your company is no longer matching, you may want to consider just the opposite of increasing your contribution to 401k. The main deciding factor is "does the 401k offer good choices for YOUR investment needs?" If the answer is "no'" or "not so much", then take this 15% and open your own Roth or IRA and invest in funds that you like / that meet your objectives. When the company 1) improves the choices for you and 2) they begin matching again, then jump back into the 401k.

Talk to local financial advisor for a 2nd opinion

Good luck

Is it 9.5% per year? Does it not take into account your contributions? I don't know about your 401k but the information I get on mine is so convoluted that it hides true return.

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The question is not is it "good". The question is what is your "asset allocation"? Only by knowing what your "asset allocation" & retirement year is... will determine if it's "good". For example, if you are 75 years old and have most of your money in fairly conservative funds.... then it's a pretty good return (although a bit too conservative).

If you're 45 years old then;

A. You are in ridiculously super conservative funds and are killing your chances for a good retirement. You need to re-allocate based on your time horizon.

or

B. You have terrible funds and need to re-allocate based on your time horizon and find better funds within your choices.