Overall retirement assets were $31.9 trillion as of June 30, up 11.2% from March, the Investment Company Institute reported in its latest tally.
Assets in individual retirement accounts (IRAs) totaled $10.8 trillion, an increase of 13.5% from the end of the first quarter.
Defined contribution (DC) plan assets were $8.9 trillion at the end of the second quarter, up 11.6%.
Government defined benefit (DB) plans—including federal, state, and local government plans—held $6.5 trillion in assets as of the end of June 2020, an 8.6% increase from March.
Private-sector DB plans held $3.4 trillion, and annuity reserves outside of retirement accounts accounted for another $2.3 trillion.
Defined contribution plans
Americans held $8.9 trillion in all employer-based DC retirement plans, of which $6.3 trillion was held in 401k plans.
In addition to 401k plans, at the end of the second quarter, $555 billion was held in other private-sector DC plans, $1.1 trillion in 403(b) plans, $345 billion in 457 plans, and $641 billion in the Federal Employees Retirement System’s Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).
Mutual funds managed $3.8 trillion, or 61%, of assets held in 401k plans. With $2.2 trillion, equity funds were the most common type of funds held in 401k plans, followed by $1.1 trillion in hybrid funds, which include target-date funds.
Individual retirement accounts
IRAs held $10.8 trillion in assets at the end of the second quarter. Forty-three percent of IRA assets, or $4.7 trillion, was invested in mutual funds.
With $2.5 trillion, equity funds were the most common type of funds held in IRAs, followed by $935 billion in hybrid funds.
Other developments
As of June 30, total U.S. retirement entitlements were $38 trillion, including $31.9 trillion of retirement assets and another $6.2 trillion of unfunded liabilities.
Including both retirement assets and unfunded liabilities, retirement entitlements accounted for 40% of the financial assets of all U.S. households at the end of June.
Unfunded liabilities are a larger issue for government DB plans than for private-sector DB plans.
As of the end of the second quarter of 2020, unfunded liabilities were 5% of private-sector DB plan entitlements, 48% of state and local government DB plan entitlements, and 47% 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.