Retirement assets held steady at $24.2 trillion at the end of the third quarter, largely unchanged from the prior period, according to the latest data from the Investment Company Institute.

All told, the country’s retirement assets accounted for 36 percent of all household assets.

That’s more than twice as much as the total retirement assets that existed in 2000, and $10 trillion more than existed in 2008, when retirement assets were depleted in the wake of the financial crisis.

According to ICI’s figures, IRAs held $7.3 trillion at the end of the quarter, more than any other segment of retirement assets. Defined contribution plans held $6.6 trillion, twice as much as the money in private defined benefit plans.

The vast majority of DC money was in 401(k) plans. Mutual funds held $2.8 trillion of the $4.4 trillion in 401(k)s, down slightly from the second quarter.

Annuities claim $2 trillion of total retirement assets, about where they were in 2013. In 2007, they held $1.7 trillion.

Earlier this week, the Insured Retirement Institute said it expects 2014 to show an increase of 3 to 5 percent in annuity sales, totaling more than $225 billion in assets for the year, more than any level since 2011.

Instant Insights /

Retirement assets steady at $24.2 trillion

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