The share of families with an individual account retirement
plan is ticking down, but the assets in those plans are going up, according to
a new analysis by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). The
percentage of all families with plans such as a 401(k) plan or an individual
retirement account (IRA) decreased from 52.8% in 2001 to 48.2% in 2013, based
on the most recent data from the 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) from
the Federal Reserve. Retirement plan ownership from a current employer among
families declined from 2010 to 2013, but the percentage of family heads who
were eligible for defined contribution (DC) plans and chose to participate held
essentially stable at 78.2% in 2010 to 78.7% in 2013.
According to the EBRI report, the percentage of families
owning IRAs or Keoghs was unchanged from 2010 (28.0%) to 2013 (28.1%). But, the
percentage of families with an individual account retirement plan from a
current employer or a previous employer or an IRA/Keogh declined from 50.4% in
2010 to 48.2% in 2013. However, when including defined benefit (DB) retirement
plans, the percentage with any retirement plan was unchanged from 63.8% in 2010
to 63.5% in 2013.
While ownership of individual account retirement plans was
declining, the median (mid-point) account balance of families owning an
individual account retirement plan increased. The value was $35,456 in 2001 and
had reached $59,000 by 2013.
Among families owning such plans, the EBRI report notes,
individual account retirement plan assets were a clear majority of their total
financial assets: 70.3% in 2013 at the median, the same share as in 2010.
Across all demographic groups, these assets accounted for at least 49.2% of
median total financial assets.
Copeland adds that results of this study do not answer questions
about what is needed for a successful retirement, but they do show the
continued growing importance of individual account retirement plans. The full report, “Individual Account
Retirement Plans: An Analysis of the 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances,” is
published in the November EBRI Issue Brief and is available online at www.ebri.org.
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