U.S. retirement market assets fell 24% last year, to $7.86 trillion, according to Spectrem Group.
If this seems like less than one might expect given the floundering market, bear in mind that fixed income, stable value and bond funds account for a sizeable chunk of the retirement market.

“Assets in these vehicles don’t change that much,” says Gerry O’Connor, a director at Spectrem. “That’s why there’s a relative stability of value,” compared to the Dow Jones Industrial stock index, which declined 33.8% in 2008, and the S&P 500 stock index, which declined 38.5%.

The Chicago company said in a report released March 18 that assets held in defined contribution plans, which include 401(k) plans, fell 21% for the year, to $3.8 trillion. However, the popularity of these plans continued to increase overall, with defined contribution plans as a percentage of all retirement assets expanding to a record 49% in 2008.

In the corporate sector specifically, 401(k) plans, which account for 71% of corporate retirement assets, fell 23%, to $1.94 trillion.

The Spectrem report is based on data derived from public and private sources as well as Spectrem surveys.