IRA Mid-Term Exam

Monday, October 16, 2023

By Ian Berger, JD
IRA Analyst
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The Investment Company Institute (ICI) is an association representing mutual fund companies and similar investment companies. Each year, ICI conducts a survey of the prevalence of IRAs in American households. Recently, the ICI issued its 2023 survey based on data from mid-2022 and calendar year 2021. The full report is available at The Role of IRAs in US Households’ Saving for Retirement, 2022 (ici.org) .

Based on the survey results, here are some interesting questions (with answers at the bottom of the article):

1. What were the total assets held in IRAs, including traditional and Roth IRAs, SEP IRAs and SIMPLE IRAs (as of mid-2022)?

A.  $1.7 billion

B.  $11.7 billion

C.  $1.7 trillion

D.  $11.7 trillion

2. What percentage of all U.S. retirement assets were held in IRAs (as of mid-2022)?

A.  24%

B.  34%

C.  44%

D.  54%

3. What percentage of U.S. households held any IRAs, including traditional and Roth IRAs, SEP IRAs and SIMPLE IRAs (as of mid-2022)?  

A.  22%

B.  32%

C.  42%

D.  52%

4. True or False. 64% of households with incomes of $100,000 or more owned IRAs (as of mid-2022).

5. What percentage of U.S. households owned Roth IRAs (as of mid-2022)?

A.  25%

B.  35%

C.  45%

D.  55%

6. What percentage of U.S. households included someone who made an IRA contribution for 2021?

 A. 15%

 B.  25%

 C.  35%

 D.  45%

7. What percentage of an average household’s financial assets consisted of IRA funds (as of mid-2022)?

A.  6%

B.  11% 

C.  21%

D.  31%

8. True or False. 40% of traditional IRA accounts contained rollovers from employer-sponsored retirement plans (as of mid-2022).

9. What percentage of traditional IRA owners who did rollovers from company plans said they consulted with a financial advisor before doing the rollover?

 A.   33%

 B.   43%

 C.   53%

 D.   63%

10. True or False. The most cited reason for doing a rollover from a company plan to an IRA was not wanting to leave the assets with the former employer.

Answers:

1.  D                                                         6.  A                 

2.  B                                                         7.  B

3.  C                                                         8.  False (60%)

4.  True                                                    9.  D

5.  A                                                        10. True

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