Products September 21, 2010

DWS Announces IRA Rollover Site

DWS Investments, the U.S. retail unit of Deutsche Bank’s Asset Management division, has launched DWS Rollover Central, an online resource to help guide retirement plan participants through the IRA rollover process.  
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The site offers investment tools and educational features to help investors better understand the benefits of traditional and Roth IRAs, according to the company.  It also simplifies the process of opening an IRA and selecting a financial adviser.  Investors can use DWS Rollover Central to view a side-by-side comparison of available IRA providers and compare fees, funds, investment research tools, and information about the application process, according to a news release.

In releasing the product, DWS Investments has partnered with Wealth Management Systems Inc. (WMSI).

“The new IRA services offered through DWS Rollover Central provide our participants and investors with more choice, convenience and control,” says Ron Cohen, Head of DWS Retirement Services, in the news release.

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DWS Rollover Central is accessible through DWS’ Web site, www.dws-investments.com, and through other third-party recordkeepers. 

Data & Research September 21, 2010

Average IRA Account Balance Put at $54K

The average IRA account balance in 2008 was $54,863, while the average IRA balance of all accounts from the same person combined totaled $69,498, according to new Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) data.
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Data from EBRI’s new IRA database also indicates that individuals with rollover assets had the highest average balance at $91,783 while Roth owners had the lowest average balance at $14,056.

EBRI said the average amount contributed to an IRA in the database was $3,665 in 2008, with the average contribution highest for accounts owned by those ages 65–69.

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More contributions were made to Roth accounts than to traditional (combined traditional and rollover) accounts. However, the average contribution to a traditional account was higher, at $3,798, compared with $3,580 to a Roth account, according to the EBRI data.

Of those individuals contributing, 42.4% put in the maximum amount. Of those contributing to a traditional or rollover IRA, 43.4% maxed out, while 40.2% did so with a Roth IRA.

EBRI said the distribution of the IRA accounts is 33.6% traditional IRAs; 33.4% rollover IRAs, 23.4% Roth IRAs; while the remaining 9.6% are SEPs and SIMPLE accounts.

More information is at http://www.ebri.org/pdf/briefspdf/EBRI_IB_09-2010_No346_IRAs.pdf. 

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