For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANSPONSOR NEWSDash daily newsletter.
Administration June 1, 2002
Markets, Rollovers Swell IRA Assets
January 18, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Individual
retirement account (IRA) assets grew almost 22% between
1998-1999, reaching $2.47 trillion and topping the assets in
both private pension and defined contributions plans for the
first time ever, according to the Employee Benefit Research
Institute (EBRI).
Reported by editors@plansponsor.com
EBRI also notes, however, that most of that growth appears to be coming from investment gains and rollovers from qualified plans, not new contributions.
EBRI also said that:
- IRA assets have increased approximately $1.4 trillion since 1994, an average growth rate of roughly 18%
- Mutual funds made up nearly half (49.4%) of all IRA assets in 1999, up from 22% in 1990, and just 8.1% in 1981
- Banks and thrift institutions held just 9.9% of all IRA assets in 1999, down from 41.8% in 1990, and a commanding 73% in 1981.
According to a recent ownership survey, roughly 41% of US households owned an IRA by June 2000, some 42.5 million households.
- 33 million owned a traditional IRA
- 10.4 million had a Roth IRA
- 7.4 million owned a SIMPLE IRA, a simplified employee pension (SEP)-IRA, or SAR-SEP IRA.
– Nevin Adams editors@plansponsor.com