IRA Mid-Term Exam

By Ian Berger, JD
IRA Analyst
Follow Us on X: 
@theslottreport

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

Content Citation Guidelines

Below is the required verbiage that must be added to any re-branded piece from Ed Slott and Company, LLC or IRA Help, LLC. The verbiage must be used any time you take text from a piece and put it onto your own letterhead, within your newsletter, on your website, etc. Verbiage varies based on where you’re taking the content from.

Please be advised that prior to distributing re-branded content, you must send a proof to [email protected] for approval.

For white papers/other outflow pieces:

Copyright © [year of publication], [Ed Slott and Company, LLC or IRA Help, LLC – depending on what it says on the original piece] Reprinted with permission [Ed Slott and Company, LLC or IRA Help, LLC – depending on what it says on the original piece] takes no responsibility for the current accuracy of this information.

For charts:

Copyright © [year of publication], Ed Slott and Company, LLC Reprinted with permission Ed Slott and Company, LLC takes no responsibility for the current accuracy of this information.

For Slott Report articles:

Copyright © [year of article], Ed Slott and Company, LLC Reprinted from The Slott Report, [insert date of article], with permission. [Insert article URL] Ed Slott and Company, LLC takes no responsibility for the current accuracy of this article.

Please contact Matt Smith at [email protected] or (516) 536-8282 with any questions.