Americans' retirement assets grew 0.35%, to $17.8 trillion, during the third quarter, according to a statistical report by the Investment Company Institute.
The ICI, a Washington-based trade group that tracks the investment industry, said that retirement savings account for almost 40% of all household financial assets in the United States.
Savings held in individual retirement accounts rose 4.3%, to $4.8 trillion, during the quarter, and mutual funds managed 47% of IRA assets, the report said.
Mutual funds managed $2.4 trillion of assets in 401(k), 403(b), and other defined contribution plans, up from $2.3 trillion at June 30. Mutual funds managed 53% of defined contribution assets.
Life-cycle funds, which typically rebalance their portfolios to include more fixed-income assets as the specified target date approaches, continued to grow rapidly. They held $168 billion at Sept. 30, up from $153 billion three months earlier. Almost 90% of assets in life-cycle funds are in retirement accounts.
