Investing July 25, 2007

Retirement Assets Reach $16.4 Trillion

July 25, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Assets of the nation's retirement savings plans reached a record $16.4 trillion in 2006, an 11% increase over 2005 and a 55% increase since 2002, according to data from the Investment Company Institute (ICI).
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Most of the increase in retirement assets during 2006 can be attributed to strong growth in employer-sponsored defined contribution plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs), ICI said in a statement. Investors held $8.3 trillion in individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and DC plans at year-end 2006. The remainder of retirement assets is in annuities, government pension plans, and private defined benefit plans.

Retirement assets now account for nearly 40% of household financial assets, up from about 24% two decades ago, ICI said. Nearly two-thirds of Americans’ retirement assets are held in employer-sponsored retirement plans, including both defined contribution plans and defined benefit plans. Additionally, ICI noted, a significant portion of assets held in IRAs originated in employer plans and were then rolled over into IRAs.

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Additional findings from ICI’s annual study include:

  • One-quarter of Americans’ DC plan and IRA assets – about $4.1 trillion – is invested in mutual funds, according to the ICI statement. Mutual funds manage 52% of DC plan assets and 47% of IRA assets.
  • Assets in defined contribution plans and IRAs continued to grow more rapidly than assets in other types of retirement plans in 2006, increasing 15% compared with 8% for other retirement plans. Together, assets in defined contribution plans and IRAs represented 51% of retirement assets in 2006, up from 39% in 1990.
  • Lifestyle and lifecycle funds grew 50% in 2006 to $303 billion, after rising 57% in 2005.

ICI’s study, The US Retirement Market, 2006, is  here .

Benefits July 24, 2007

Poll: Most Canadian Workers Plan to Exhaust Vacation this Summer

July 24, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Nearly 20% of Canadians say they will not be taking any vacation this summer because they don't want to return to a massive workload, compared to about two-thirds who say they will take time off, according to a recent poll.
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class=”bwtextalignleft”> The survey of more than 1,800 Canadian workers by Monster Canada found that 64% will take the entire 10 days of paid vacation they are allotted this summer, while16% said they will only be taking a partial vacation this summer, citing the “guilt” they would feel for leaving work behind.

class=”bwtextalignleft”> Other results of the poll include:

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  • Workers in Quebecappear much more eager to make the most of their summer holidays, with 72% of the 225 French Canadians polled saying they will take vacation time.
  • About 15% of Quebec workers said they will not be taking a summer vacation, while 12% will be taking partial vacations.
  • 37% of 1,598 participants in another Monster poll said that they will be using their cell phone, BlackBerry or laptop to check in with work periodically while vacationing.

For the full Monster article about the survey go here .

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