Submitted by CARPE DIEM

Washington, DC — Americans held $17.6 trillion in retirement assets at the end of 2007, up $1.1 trillion from year-end 2006 (see chart above), according to the Investment Company Institute (ICI). In the first comprehensive look at the scope of the nation’s retirement market for the full year, ICI found that strong growth in Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and employer-sponsored defined contribution plans, powered the 7% increase.

From the full report: Retirement market assets are held in a variety of tax-advantaged plan types. The largest components are Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and employer-sponsored defined contribution plans, holding $4.7 trillion and $4.5 trillion, respectively, at year-end 2007.
Eighty-two million, or 71% of, U.S. households report they had employer-sponsored retirement plans, IRAs, or both in May 2007. Sixty-one percent of U.S. households report that they had assets in defined contribution plan accounts, were receiving or expecting to receive benefits from defined benefit plans, or both. Forty percent of households report having assets in IRAs. Thirty percent of households had both IRAs and employer-sponsored retirement plans.

Note: The $1.1 trillion increase in retirement assets during 2007 is an increase in about $10,000 per household (number of households is about 110 million, data here), and represents an average of almost $160,000 in retirement savings per household.

The way the recessionistas and media tell the story, the U.S. economy is on the verge of another Great Depression. The facts tell a different story - despite subprime mortgage and housing problems, the U.S. economy generated more than $1 trillion in retirement wealth during 2007!

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