American households, as of December 2004, had accumulated $3,475.1 billion in tax-deferred Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), according to the Federal Reserve Flow of Funds Accounts. The largest portion of these savings were held as “self-directed accounts”, in which a wide diversity of investment are permissible (according to Equity Trust Company), such as: Real Estate (apartments, single-family homes, […]

Life insurance companies invest pension and life insurance reserves primarily in bonds, according to Federal Reserve Flow of Funds Table F117 for Q3 2005. As the graph shows, although life insurers directed a large portion of cash flows into equities and mutual funds in the years 1998-2000, they returned to a more conservative position after the […]

An understanding of the motivation of issuers is fundamental in Capital Flow Analysis. The U.S. bond market may be divided into four types of issuers, with this breakdown over the decade 1995-2004: F209. Treasury Bonds (8.9% of bond issues); F210. Agency Bonds (39.5% of bond issues); F211. Municipal Bonds (6.9% of bond issues); and F212. Corporate Bonds (44.7% of bond […]