Older IRA Holders Shift Away From Stocks

In 2001, only 25.9% of family heads older than 75 who owned IRAs had most of their IRA assets in stock and stock funds. The younger the family heads were, the more likely they were to have most of their IRA assets in stock, and 70.7% of IRA holders younger than 35 had most of their IRA assets in stock.

Copeland could not find 401(k) plan allocation data for participants over age 65 in the government survey data he used. But his results show that, in 2001, 401(k) plan allocations between stock and interest-earning assets varied little with age. In each age category, between 50% and 56% of the family heads participating in 401(k) plans had most of their plan assets in stock. Between 8.7% to 11% of the participants had most of their plan assets in interest-earning assets.

In 1992, the age of family heads who had IRAs or participated in 401(k) plans had little correlation with portfolio allocations.

Among IRA holders, for example, family heads younger than 35 were more likely to have all of their IRA assets in stock than family heads in the 35-44 age category, but they were less likely than the older family heads to have most of their 401(k) plan assets in stock.