Retirement assets plunge more than $2T
Total retirement assets in the U.S. have dropped by more than $2 trillion in a one-year period, according to a new report from the Investment Company Institute.
Total retirement assets in the U.S. have dropped by more than $2 trillion in a one-year period, according to a new report from the Investment Company Institute.
There were $15.9 trillion in combined pension, defined contribution, individual retirement account and annuity assets in the United States at the end of September, an 11% decline from the $18 trillion held in retirement accounts at the end of September 2007.
Most of that $2.1 trillion drop, which was caused by severe declines in equity and fixed-income markets, was the result of a plunge in IRA assets.
IRAs assets sank by roughly $700 billion, or 17%, during the one-year period to $4.1 trillion — the largest decline of any retirement vehicle tracked by the ICI of Washington.
Defined contribution plans plummeted 11% to $4 trillion, while traditional pension assets declined by 12% to $6.2 trillion. Annuity assets, meanwhile, fell 6% to $1.5 trillion, according to the ICI study.
As dramatic as these declines may seem, however, the latest ICI numbers do not include the major equity losses that have stung investors since the end of September.
Since that time, the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index has fallen by 32%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has dropped 30%.
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