US Retirement Assets Total $40.0 Trillion in Quarter 2024.[1] US IRA assets total $14.5 trillion, representing over a third (1/3) of US retirement assets.[2]

Over 55.5 million US households, or 42.2%, reported owning individual retirement accounts as of February 2024. (Traditional and Roth IRA’s).[3] IRA custodians are subject to IRS regulation for nonbanks and federal and state bank regulators for banks to ensure compliance with the tax advantages of IRAs. Custodial duties are subject to and limited by the Account Holder Agreement signed by the IRA account holder at the time the account is established.[4] IRA custodians establish internal policies and procedures to accept, administer, and distribute client retirement funds to ensure compliance with IRS and bank regulators, consistent throughout the US financial services industry, offering IRA custodial services.

IRA custodians are responsible for holding and administering IRA accounts, per the terms of the account holder agreements, including beneficiary designation forms in compliance with IRS regulations, facilitating IRA account contributions, withdrawals, minimum distribution requirements, and distributions upon the account holder’s death per the terms of the signed account beneficiary forms. IRA custodian account provider’s key market factors are institutional reputation, competitive pricing, no account minimums, access to a variety of investment choices including stocks, ETFs, and options, user-friendly online platform and mobile apps, research, and educational materials.

IRA Custodial Agreements establish that account holders named beneficiaries will receive and enjoy the account benefits upon the account holder’s death, free of time and expense of probate or trust administration governed by individual states. This benefit, by its nature, allows the institutional IRA custodial provider to rely solely on the written documentation of the account holder as to who the rightful beneficiaries of the account are based on the last valid signed beneficiary designation form on file with the institutional IRA custodian.

[1]https://www.ici.org/statistical-report/ret_24_q2

[2]https://www.ici.org/statistical-report/ret_24_q2

[3]https://www.ici.org/statistical-report/ret_24_q2

[4]https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/approved-nonbank-trustees-and-custodians