NU Online News Service, Sept. 17, 5:20 p.m. – Holders of traditional individual retirement accounts are more likely to own whole life insurance policies and annuities than holders of Roth IRAs are, according to a new report from the Investment Company Institute, Washington.
When ICI researchers analyzed results from the trade group's annual tracking surveys, they found that the percentage of U.S. households owning Roth IRAs jumped to 12.1% this year, from 11.3% in 2001.
Ownership of traditional IRAs crept up to 32.7% of U.S. households, from 32.4%.
In some ways, the ICI researchers report, households that own traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs are similar.
Traditional IRA households, for example, have annual household incomes of $60,000, and 67% of the primary decisionmakers are married.
At Roth IRA households, the average annual household income is $65,000, and 66% of the primary decisionmakers are married.
Statistics on ownership of individual stocks suggest households in both groups have similar levels of risk tolerance: 58% of the Roth IRA holders own individual stocks, but so do 56% of the traditional IRA holders.
