U.S. retirement assets reached $24.2 trillion at the close of the 3rd quarter of 2014, a total unchanged from the end of the second quarter, according to new research.
The Investment Company Institute discloses this finding in a tabulation of financial data from ICI and other sources. They include the Federal Reserve Board, Department of Labor, National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators, American Council of Life Insurers and Internal Revenue Service Statistics of Income Division. ICI reports that retirement assets accounted for more than one-third (36 percent) of all household financial assets in the U.S. at the end of the third quarter of 2014.
Assets in individual retirement accounts (IRAs) totaled $7.3 trillion at the end of the third quarter of 2014, an increase of 0.2 percent from the end of the second quarter. Defined contribution (DC) plan assets rose 0.7 percent in the third quarter to $6.6 trillion.
Government defined benefit (DB) plans —including federal, state, and local government plans — held $5.1 trillion in assets as of the end of September, a 0.9 percent decrease from the end of June. Private-sector DB plans held $3.2 trillion in assets at the end of the third quarter of 2014, and annuity reserves outside of retirement accounts accounted for another $2.0 trillion.
