Not bad, all things considered. Total U.S. retirement assets were $28.7 trillion as of March 31, down 11.9% from December 2019.
Retirement assets accounted for 33% of all household financial assets in the United States at the end of March, according to the Investment Company Institute.
Assets in individual retirement accounts (IRAs) totaled $9.5 trillion at the end of the first quarter, a decrease of 13.7% from the end of the fourth quarter of 2019.
Defined contribution (DC) plan assets were $7.9 trillion, down 12.3% from December.
Government defined benefit (DB) plans— including federal, state, and local government plans—held $5.9 trillion in assets as of the end of March, an 11.1% decrease from the end of December.
Private-sector DB plans held $3.2 trillion in assets at the end of the first quarter of 2020, and annuity reserves outside of retirement accounts accounted for another $2.2 trillion.
Defined Contribution Plans
Americans held $7.9 trillion in all employer-based DC retirement plans in March, of which $5.6 trillion was held in 401(k) plans.
In addition to 401k plans, at the end of the first quarter, $490 billion was held in other private-sector DC plans, $988 billion in 403(b) plans, $305 billion in 457 plans, and $580 billion in the Federal Employees Retirement System’s Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).
Mutual funds managed $3.3 trillion, or 59%, of assets held in 401k plans. With $1.8 trillion, equity funds were the most common type of funds held in 401k plans, followed by $939 billion in hybrid funds, which include target date funds.
Individual Retirement Accounts
IRAs held $9.5 trillion in assets at the end of the first quarter. Forty-three percent of IRA assets, or $4.1 trillion, was invested in mutual funds.
With $2.1 trillion, equity funds were the most common type of funds held in IRAs, followed by $839 billion in hybrid funds.
Other Developments
Total U.S. retirement entitlements in March were $35.7 trillion, including $28.7 trillion of retirement assets and another $6.9 trillion of unfunded liabilities. Including both retirement assets and unfunded liabilities, retirement entitlements accounted for 41% of the financial assets of all U.S. households at the end of March.
Unfunded liabilities are a larger issue for government DB plans than for private-sector DB plans. As of the end of the first quarter of 2020, unfunded liabilities were 11% of private-sector DB plan entitlements, 55% of state and local government DB plan entitlements, and 46% of federal DB plan entitlements.
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of 401(k) Specialist and Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots. Experienced financial services content executive specializing in creative new media delivery. He joined the American Retirement Association in 2023 as Chief Content Officer, overseeing communications for the organization, as well as its sister organizations.
