$16.4 Trillion in Retirement Accounts

Now that’s a serious number. Eileen Alt Powell, AP Business Writer reports that Americans retirement accounts reached $16.4 trillion at year-end 2006 [emphasis added.Americans have accumulated a record $16.4 trillion in retirement accounts, with about half of it in company-sponsored plans like 401(k)s and in Individual Retirement Accounts, according to a study by the Investment Company Institute.The ICI, a Washington-based trade association, said that the total as of year-end 2006 was up 11 percent from the $14.7 trillion in retirement assets at the end of 2005 and nearly 55 percent higher than the market-depressed low of $10.6 trillion at the end of 2002.

As dramatic as that number — $16.4 trillion — is, it does not tell the whole story because it only includes tax-deferred retirement accounts such as employer-sponsored retirement plans, IRAs etc.

‘…The study looked at tax-deferred retirement accounts but did not include assets in taxable savings accounts, investment accounts or other accounts that Americans also might tap for retirement…’

Not to mention home equity, ownership of a business and so on. This is a good number to retain the next time you are reading a story (here and here) about the ‘fact’ that Americans are not saving anything.