ICI Viewpoints

Given the importance of retirement savings to mutual funds and their investors, ICI publishes statistics on the US retirement market every quarter as an information resource for mutual funds, individual investors, the media, policymakers, and researchers.

This report includes individual retirement account (IRA) and defined contribution (DC) plan assets, including 401(k) plans, and mutual fund assets held in retirement accounts.

To create this report, ICI combines information from its own mutual fund survey with other resources, including data from the Department of Labor, the IRS Statistics of Income Division, and the Federal Reserve Board. We use these data to produce estimates for assets in employer-sponsored retirement plans, IRAs, and annuities held outside retirement accounts.

Retirement Assets Total $27.1 Trillion in 2018

Total US retirement assets were $27.1 trillion as of December 31, 2018. Assets in IRAs totaled $8.8 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2018. Americans held $7.5 trillion in all employer-sponsored DC retirement plans at year-end 2018, of which $5.2 trillion was held in 401(k) plans. The report also highlights that 45 percent of IRA assets and 64 percent of 401(k) assets were held in mutual funds at the end of 2018.

For More Information

See ICI’s Retirement Resource Center and FactsonRetirement.org, where we highlight more key points about the US retirement system. Also, follow us on social media—Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn—to receive information about top news stories on the industry, notices of ICI releases, and stories on retirement.