Assets of U.S. pension funds jumped to $5.4 trillion in 1995, a 15.8% increase from the previous year, the Federal Reserve says.
According to the Federal Reserve's Flow of Funds report for 1995, pension fund assets are larger than the $2.1 trillion in life insurance assets, the $1.9 trillion in mutual funds and the $1.3 trillion in thrift institutions combined.
Private pension funds comprised the largest portion of pension fund assets, climbing 15.7% in 1995 to $2.6 trillion. State and local pension funds had the largest percentage gain, jumping 21.1% to $1.4 trillion. Other components were insured pension assets - those managed in insurance company general accounts - increasing 13.7% to $1 trillion and federal pension funds, growing 4.4% to $374 billion.
Mutual fund holdings for private pension plans skyrocketed 53% to $268.8 billion in 1995. Corporate equities rose sharply in private and state and local pension fund holdings, rising 24.8% for private funds to $1.1 trillion and 38.3% to $702 billion for state and local funds.
