U.S. Retirement Savings Reach a 4-Year High

blr-editor | July 1, 2011 | Comments (0)

US retirement assets reach a multi-year high of $18.1 trillion

As the U.S. economy continues to fight its way out of the last recession, the total retirement assets held rose to $18.1 trillion at the end of the first quarter of 2011.

This up 3% from the end of 2010, according to the Investment Company Institute.

The total is just under the all-time high reached at the end of the third quarter of 2007. The $18.1 trillion accounted for 37% of all household financial assets in the U.S. at the end of the first quarter of 2011.

It is also is up nearly 10% from the same quarter a year ago, and just below the record high reached in the third quarter of 2007.

Simultaneously, the stock market has been on a recent tear, with the Dow extending its gains today to 12,586 points as of Friday 3.00p.m., close to this year’s highs.

The Institute of Supply Management‘s manufacturing index also jumped to 55.3 in June — well above the 51.1 that economists had expected. This suggests the global economy is beginning to shake off its recent weakness.

Certainly the US economy is nowhere close to being out of the woods yet, especially with talks on raising the country’s debt limit at an impasse.

However, these new numbers, together with lower gas prices, give some hope that the U.S. economy will find a firmer footing in the coming months.