New York – Americans have accumulated a record $16.4 trillion in retirement accounts, about half of it in company-sponsored plans such as 401(k)s and in Individual Retirement Accounts, according to a study by the Investment Company Institute.
The ICI, a Washington-based trade association, said that the total as of year-end 2006 was up 11 percent from the $14.7 trillion in retirement assets at the end of 2005 and nearly 55 percent higher than the market-depressed low of $10.6 trillion at the end of 2002.
Retirement assets had declined in 2001 and 2002 as the stock market dropped following the bursting of the technology stock bubble and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but have recovered since, the study showed.
The 2006 savings total included $4.2 trillion in IRAs, $4.1 trillion in defined contribution accounts like 401(k)s, $2.3 trillion in company-sponsored pension plans, $4.2 trillion in government pension plans and $1.6 trillion in retirement annuities, ICI said.
Sarah Holden, senior director of retirement and investor research at ICI, said the findings indicate Americans “are actively saving for their retirements.”
$16.4 TRILLION
Amount in retirement accounts at the end of 2006, up 55 percent from $10.6 trillion at the end of 2002
$4.2 TRILLION
Amount in Individual Retirement Accounts
$4.1 TRILLION
Amount in 401(k) and other defined contribution accounts
$6.5 TRILLION
Amount in company-sponsored and government pension plans
$3.8 TRILLION
Assets in traditional IRAs, funded with pretax money or rollovers
$178 BILLION
Assets in Roth IRAs, funded with after-tax money
