MMFs Total $414B in IRAs, DC
The Investment Company Institute published a press release entitled, "Retirement Assets Total $29.1 Trillion in First Quarter 2019," which shows that money market funds held in retirement accounts total $414 billion, or 13%, of the total $3.201 billion in money funds (up from $400 billion the previous quarter). The release says, "Total US retirement assets were $29.8 trillion as of June 30, 2019, up 2.3 percent from March 31, 2019. Retirement assets accounted for 33 percent of all household financial assets in the United States at the end of June 2019." It continues, "`Assets in individual retirement accounts (IRAs) totaled $9.7 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2019, an increase of 2.9 percent from the end of the first quarter of 2019. Defined contribution (DC) plan assets were $8.4 trillion at the end of the second quarter, up 2.6 percent from March 31, 2019. Government defined benefit (DB) plans -- including federal, state, and local government plans -- held $6.2 trillion in assets as of the end of June 2019, a 0.7 percent increase from the end of March 2019. Private-sector DB plans held $3.2 trillion in assets at the end of the second quarter of 2019, and annuity reserves outside of retirement accounts accounted for another $2.2 trillion." ICI accompanying tables show money funds accounting for $279 billion, or 6%, of the $4.505 trillion in IRA mutual fund assets and $135 billion, or 3%, of the $4.814 trillion in defined contribution plan holdings in Q2'19. A year earlier (Q2'18), money fund assets in IRAs totaled $235 billion (5%) and in DC plans totaled $122 billion (3%).
