More than 25 percent of all US retirement assets are held in individual retirement accounts (IRAs), but up until now, little data existed on asset allocations in IRAs. As a result, the retirement prospects of retirees owning IRAs have remained a mystery.

New research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) gives us a first peek into self-directed accounts like IRAs, providing hard data on the investing behavior of account owners and giving us insight into common problem areas in these accounts.

EBRI’s database includes information on 11.1 million individuals’ 14.1 million individual retirement accounts. Assets in the tracked accounts amount to $732.9 billion.

Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).

For previous coverage of IRAs in Advisor’s Journal, see Maximize IRA Stretch with Individual Inherited IRA Accounts (CC 10-69) and To Convert or Not to Convert, That is the Question (CC 07-40).

For in-depth analysis of IRAs, see Advisor’s Main Library: A – Introduction to Individual Retirement Plans (IRAs).

Tags: 401(k), Asset, Business, Individual Retirement Account, Pension, Retirement, Roth IRA, Traditional IRA

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