403(b), 457 Assets Rise in Q2

Americans held $6.6 trillion in all employer-based DC retirement plans on June 30, 2014, of which $941 billion was held in 403(b) plans, and another $255 billion in 457 plans. Those figures are up from $6.4 trillion, $922 billion and $248 billion, respectively, as of March 31, 2014, according to the Investment Company Institute (ICI).

Government defined benefit plans — including federal, state, and local government plans—held $5.1 trillion in assets as of the end of June, up 1.4% from the prior quarter.

In addition to those programs, according to the ICI, at the end of the second quarter there were:

* $4.4 trillion in 401(k) plans,
* $555 billion was held in other private-sector DC plans,
* $401 billion in the Federal Employees Retirement System’s Thrift Savings Plan,
* $3.2 trillion in assets held by private-sector DB plans, and
* $2.0 trillion in annuity reserves outside of retirement accounts.

Total U.S. retirement assets were $24.0 trillion as of June 30, 2014, up 2.8 percent from $23.4 trillion on March 31, 2014, according to the ICI.

Retirement assets accounted for 36 percent of all household financial assets in the United States at the end of the second quarter of 2014.
Assets in individual retirement accounts (IRAs) totaled $7.2 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2014, an increase of 3.3 percent from the end of the first quarter, up from $6.9 trillion at the end of the first quarter of 2014. Forty-four percent of IRA assets, or $3.1 trillion, was invested in mutual funds.