U.S. INDIVIDUAL INVESTMENT ASSETS DROP 5.2 PERCENT IN FIRST QUARTER

Posted October 3, 2008

WASHINGTON, D.C. – At the end of the first quarter of 2008, US savers held $17.1 trillion in investment assets, a drop of about 5.2 percent from $18 trillion at the beginning of the quarter, and accounting for nearly 40 percent of all household financial assets in the country, according to mutual fund survey data compiled by the Investment Company Institute (ICI).

The total return on equities was [minus]-9.4 percent and on bonds was 2.6 percent during the first quarter, according to the Standard & Poor’s 500 index and the Citigroup broad Investment Grade Bond Index.

Of the assets reported in the ICI’s “US Retirement Market” report, IRAs [individual retirement accounts] hold more than $4.5 trillion, and employer-sponsored defined-contribution plans hold $4.3 trillion. Mutual funds manage 47 percent of IRA assets and 50 percent of defined-contribution plan assets.

Lifecycle funds continued to grow with assets reaching $185 billion, according to the ICI report, which covers assets held in private-sector pension plans, government pension plans, annuities and IRAs.