The U.S. Retirement Market, First Quarter 2009
33%
Total U.S. retirement assets were $13.4 trillion as of March 31, 2009, down from $14.1 trillion on December 31, 2008. Retirement savings accounted for 33 percent of all household financial assets in the United States.
26%
At the end of the first quarter of 2009, retirement assets were down $4.8 trillion, or 26 percent, from the highest quarterly peak of $18.2 trillion at the end of the third quarter of 2007. Declines in financial markets have lead to declines across all types of retirement plans, with individual retirement accounts (IRAs), defined contribution (DC) plans, private defined benefit (DB) plans, and state and local government pension plans all having similar percentage declines in assets over this period.
2/3
Employer-sponsored retirement plans play a key role in helping American workers save for retirement. The bulk (nearly two-thirds) of Americans’ retirement assets was held in employer-sponsored retirement plans at year-end 2008. Furthermore, a significant portion of assets held in IRAs originated in employer plans and were then transferred (or “rolled over”) into IRAs.
45%
Americans held $3.4 trillion in all employer-based DC retirement plans at the end of the first quarter of 2009. Mutual funds accounted for $1.5 trillion, or 45 percent, of DC plan assets.
$1.5 million
IRAs held $3.4 trillion at the end of the first quarter of 2009. Forty-four percent of IRA assets, or $1.5 trillion, were invested in mutual funds.
Source: Investment Company Institute