Defined benefit assets drop; Flow of funds data show first stumble since 2002.(News)

Pensions & Investments, March, 2006 by Calio, Vince

Byline: Vince Calio WASHINGTON - Assets in American private defined benefit pension plans took a step backward in 2005, dropping 2% to $1.769 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Board's flow of funds data. This was the first drop since 2002, when total assets for U.S. private defined benefit plans plummeted 16% to $1.409 trillion.

Since then, assets increased by 19% in 2003 and 8% in 2004. Total retirement assets - including private defined contribution plans and local government, state and federal defined benefit plans - increased by 3% to $8.41 trillion from $8.15 trillion in 2004. Assets in private defined contribution plans continued to grow, rising 7% to $2.844 trillion in 2005. That followed a 13% increase to $2.7 trillion in 2004, and a 24%...

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