Investing March 30, 2007

ETF Assets Up More than a Third Over Past Year

March 30, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Over the past 12 months, ETF assets increased $110.99 billion (34.4%), according to the Investment Company Institute.
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Assets in domestic equity ETFs increased $64.08 billion since February 2006, and global equity ETFs assets rose $40.43 billion during this period, according to the ICI .  

The value of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) rose 0.5% ($2.32 billion) to $433.40 billion in February.   During the month, the value of all ETF shares issued exceeded that of shares redeemed by $4.97 billion. In 2006, ETFs experienced a net issuance of $73.99 billion.

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Statistics contained in the Institute’s monthly ETF report have been obtained from information provided to ICI by exchange-traded funds and commodity funds.

Benefits March 29, 2007

EBRI: Public Sector Pension/Annuity Income Greater than Private

March 29, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Fewer Americans age 50 and older received pension/annuity income from a public-sector plan than from a private-sector plan in 2005, but the public sector participant received a considerably larger amount.
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That was a conclusion from data contained in a new research paper by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).

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According to an EBRI news release, 15.7% of men age 50 and older got private sector pension/annuity income in 2005 (10.3% of women of the same age), while 8.6% of men age 50 and older got public sector pension/annuity income (7.1% of women).

However, the average public sector income for men was $26,682 ($16,611 for women) and $13,920 for the private sector ($8,209 for women).

“Will today’s workers have a steady income stream when they retire? This is an important policy question for government, employers, and employees alike. Current trends show future retirees may not have a steady income stream in retirement,” the research paper asserted. “…. future retirees will likely be more reliant on assets they must manage themselves instead of receiving a stream of income for life (i.e., an annuity).”

EBRI said the data is taken from the March 2006 Current Population Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. Additional pension/annuity income data is here .

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