MMFs in Retirement Plans $364B
ICI published a press release entitled, "Retirement Assets Total $29.2 Trillion in Third Quarter," which shows that money market funds held in retirement accounts total $364 billion, or 13%, of the total $2.864 trillion in money funds. MMFs represent 3.9% of the total $9.232 mutual funds in retirement accounts. The release says, "Total US retirement assets were $29.2 trillion as of September 30, 2018, up 2.8 percent from June 30, 2018. Retirement assets accounted for 33 percent of all household financial assets in the United States at the end of September 2018. Assets in individual retirement accounts (IRAs) totaled $9.5 trillion at the end of the third quarter of 2018, an increase of 3.0 percent from the end of the second quarter of 2018. Defined contribution (DC) plan assets were $8.1 trillion at the end of the third quarter, up 3.3 percent from June 30, 2018. Government defined benefit (DB) plans—including federal, state, and local government plans—held $6.1 trillion in assets as of the end of September 2018, a 2.9 percent increase from the end of June 2018. Private-sector DB plans held $3.2 trillion in assets at the end of the third quarter of 2018, and annuity reserves outside of retirement accounts accounted for another $2.3 trillion." The ICI tables also show money funds accounting for $240 billion, or 5%, of the $4.468 trillion in IRA mutual fund assets and $124 billion, or 3%, of the $4.763 trillion in defined contribution plan holdings.
