401k Assets Hit New High (Again)

Another record high.

Investment Company Institute reports that total U.S. retirement assets were $26.6 trillion as of June 30, up 1.9 percent from March, accounting for 34 percent of all household financial assets in the United States.

IRA assets totaled $8.4 trillion, an increase of 2.3 percent, and defined contribution plan assets rose 2.2 percent to $7.5 trillion.

Government defined benefit plans held $5.7 trillion in assets, a 1.5 percent increase from the end of March.

Private-sector DB plans held $3 trillion in assets at the end of the second quarter, and annuity reserves outside of retirement accounts were $2.1 trillion.

Defined Contribution Plans

Specific to defined contribution plans, Americans held $7.5 trillion in all employer-based DC retirement, of which $5.1 trillion was held in 401k plans.

In addition to 401k plans, at the end of the second quarter, $575 billion was held in other private-sector DC plans, $949 billion in 403b plans, $297 billion in 457 plans, and $526 billion in the Federal Employees Retirement System’s Thrift Savings Plan.

Mutual funds managed $3.3 trillion, or 65 percent, of assets held in 401k plans.

With nearly $2 trillion, equity funds were the most common type of funds held in 401k plans, followed by $918 billion in hybrid funds, which include target date funds.

Individual Retirement Accounts

IRAs held $8.4 trillion in assets at the end of the second quarter. Forty-eight percent of IRA assets, or $4 trillion, was invested in mutual funds.

With $2.2 trillion, equity funds were the most common type of funds held in IRAs, followed by $884 billion in hybrid funds.

Target Date Funds

Target date mutual fund assets grew 4.8 percent in the second quarter, topping $1 trillion at the end of June. Retirement accounts held the bulk of target date mutual fund assets. Eighty-seven percent of these assets were held through DC plans (67 percent) and IRAs (20 percent).