IRA-Owning Households Access IRAs Through Full Range of Financial Services Firms
More than one-third of US households indicated they owned individual retirement accounts (IRAs) in mid-2017, according to an updated study released today by the
The study, "The Role of IRAs in US Households' Saving for Retirement, 2017," examines contribution, withdrawal, and retirement planning activities by traditional IRA-owning households.
The study found traditional IRAs remain the most common type of IRA, owned by 35.1 million, or 27.8 percent, of US households in mid-2017. Savers invest in traditional IRAs through contributions and rollovers (transfers of assets from employer-sponsored retirement plans, such as 401(k)s).
Among traditional IRA-owning households, 77 percent held their traditional IRAs through investment professionals, including full-service brokerages, financial planning firms, banks or savings institutions, and insurance companies. Thirty percent held their traditional IRAs through direct market sources, including mutual fund companies and discount brokers.
"US households have access to a full range of investment options for opening their IRAs," said
Click here to view the table: https://www.ici.org/pressroom/news/17_news_role_iras
Traditional IRAs Often Contain Rollovers
IRAs offer convenient portability for retirement plan accumulations, helping savers who change jobs over the course of their careers. In mid-2017, 57 percent of traditional IRA-owning households, or 20 million US households, indicated that their traditional IRAs contained rollovers from employer-sponsored retirement plans. The vast majority of these households transferred the entire retirement plan account balance in their most recent rollover.
"IRA investors typically research rollover and withdrawal decisions and tend to steward the assets to and through retirement," Holden said. "The broad range of financial services options available when investing in an IRA means that traditional IRA-owning households can personalize their investment choices. In addition, most of these households have a planned strategy for managing income and assets in retirement."
The most common reasons that Americans cite for rolling over their retirement accumulations into traditional IRAs are:
Avoid leaving assets behind at a former employer (63 percent)
Preserve the tax treatment of the savings (59 percent)
Consolidate assets (58 percent)
Receive access to more investment options (49 percent)
Measured Withdrawal Activity Demonstrates IRA Savers' Strategic Approach
Traditional IRA-owning households rarely take withdrawals prior to retirement and often wait until government rules require withdrawals. Among the 9.1 million traditional IRA-owning households that took withdrawals in tax year 2016, 71 percent calculated the withdrawal using the required minimum distribution (RMD) rule, making it the most common approach to withdrawals.
Traditional IRA-owning households that took withdrawals in tax year 2016 were strategic in their withdrawal activities, usually consulting outside sources to determine the amount of the withdrawal, with 64 percent consulting a professional financial adviser to determine the amount to withdraw. Eighty-one percent of households that made traditional IRA withdrawals were retired.
Retirees used their traditional IRA withdrawals for a variety of purposes, including to cover living expenses, reinvest or save into another account, use for home purchase or repair, or to pay for healthcare expenses.
About the Study
"The Role of IRAs in US Households' Saving for Retirement, 2017" reports information from two separate ICI household surveys. ICI's 2017
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