As retirement plan assets continue to increase, a new report finds that the vast majority — 88% — of all target-date mutual fund assets are held through DC plans and IRAs.
The Investment Company Institute (ICI) research notes that as of March 31, 2015, target date mutual fund assets totaled $741 billion, an increase of 5.4% in the first quarter.
Americans held $6.8 trillion in all employer-based DC retirement plans on March 31, 2015, of which $4.7 trillion was held in 401(k) plans. Also at the end of the first quarter, $570 billion was held in other private-sector DC plans, $875 billion in 403(b) plans, $265 billion in 457 plans, and $437 billion in the Federal Employees Retirement System’s Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).
IRAs held $7.6 trillion in assets at the end of the first quarter of 2015, up from $7.4 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2014.
Total U.S. retirement assets were $24.9 trillion as of March 31, 2015, up 1.3% from the $24.6 trillion reported on Dec. 31, 2014. Retirement assets accounted for 36% of all household financial assets in the United States at the end of the first quarter of 2015, according to the report.
DC plan assets generally rose 1.8% in the first quarter, to $6.8 trillion. Government DB plans — including federal, state and local government plans — held $5.1 trillion in assets as of the end of March, a 0.5% decrease in the quarter, while private-sector DB plans held $3.2 trillion in assets at the end of the first quarter of 2015, and annuity reserves outside of retirement accounts accounted for another $2.1 trillion.
