Retirement assets held steady at $24.2 trillion at the end of the third quarter, largely unchanged from the prior period, according to the latest data from the Investment Company Institute.
All told, the country’s retirement assets accounted for 36 percent of all household assets.
That’s more than twice as much as the total retirement assets that existed in 2000, and $10 trillion more than existed in 2008, when retirement assets were depleted in the wake of the financial crisis.
According to ICI’s figures, IRAs held $7.3 trillion at the end of the quarter, more than any other segment of retirement assets. Defined contribution plans held $6.6 trillion, twice as much as the money in private defined benefit plans.
The vast majority of DC money was in 401(k) plans. Mutual funds held $2.8 trillion of the $4.4 trillion in 401(k)s, down slightly from the second quarter.
Annuities claim $2 trillion of total retirement assets, about where they were in 2013. In 2007, they held $1.7 trillion.
Earlier this week, the Insured Retirement Institute said it expects 2014 to show an increase of 3 to 5 percent in annuity sales, totaling more than $225 billion in assets for the year, more than any level since 2011.
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Nick Thornton
Nick Thornton is a financial writer covering retirement and health care issues for BenefitsPRO and ALM Media. He greatly enjoys learning from the vast minds in the legal, academic, advisory and money management communities when covering the retirement space. He's also written on international marketing trends, financial institution risk management, defense and energy issues, the restaurant industry in New York City, surfing, cigars, rum, travel, and fishing. When not writing, he's pushing into some land or water.
