Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and employer-sponsored defined contribution plans gained ground in 2005, according to the Investment Company Institute's (ICI) 2006 Fact Book.
Investors held $7.3 trillion in IRAs and defined contribution plans at year-end 2005, according to the ICI, accounting for more than half of the entire retirement market.
"Today's workers face a range of potential challenges as they move toward retirement. But the data indicate that they are also building up their retirement savings and that mutual funds are a key vehicle through which households have accumulated and are accumulating wealth," said Brian Reid, ICI chief economist.
