The Role and Importance of Individual Retirement Accounts

Abstract

What are now called “traditional IRAs” (Individual Retirement Accounts) were created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Roth IRAs were added in 1997. Employer-sponsored Simplified Employee Pensions–IRAs were added in 1978 and Savings Investment Match Plans for Employees–IRAs (and 401(k)s) in 1996. Together IRAs hold $8.8 trillion in assets, one third of the total $27.1 trillion in all retirement plans. This article examines the role and importance of IRAs in the U.S. retirement system and the development of the different types of IRAs and their interaction with each other.