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Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System Returns 15.8%

Gains push fund’s total asset value to more than $11 billion.

By Michael Katz

The Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System (LASERS) reported a 15.8% investment return for the year ended June 30, which it said was one of the highest in the history of LASERS, boosting the total asset value of its investments to more than $11 billion.

LASERS said its 2017 fiscal year performance places it among the top-third percentile of 86 other public retirement funds with assets greater than $1 billion, according to Wilshire’s Trust Universe Comparison Service (TUCS).

“LASERS 15.8% return far exceeds our 7.75% expected rate of return as well as the TUCS universe median of 12.7%,” said LASERS Executive Director Cindy Rougeou in a statement. 

LASERS provides a defined benefit pension plan that covers approximately 100,000 members. In 2016, the gross of fee return for fiscal year end was a loss of 2.4%, while the three- and five-year annualized returns were 5.6% and 5.9%, respectively.

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“The benefit of global diversification is evident in our investment returns,” said Bobby Beale, LASERS’ CIO. “LASERS Board of Trustees and staff strive to be forward-thinking, disciplined, and efficient, while continuing to allocate assets for the long term. We are pleased with our plan performance and believe that LASERS is well positioned to meet its future goals and objectives.”

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Home > News > Research > Kentucky Teachers’ Pension Gains 15.37%
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Kentucky Teachers’ Pension Gains 15.37%

Performance places TRS in top 8% of large pension funds.

By Michael Katz

The $19 billion Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Kentucky (TRS) reported a 15.37% return for the fiscal year that ended June 30, which was more than double its 7.5% assumed rate of return, and reversed its -1.01 % gross returns from the previous year.

TRS said its assets for all its funds, which also include medical insurance and life insurance funds, exceeded $19 billion for the first time. It also said that the pension benefitted from the first installments of more than $900 million in additional funding approved by the state’s General Assembly and Gov. Matt Bevin, which it says was the first such appropriation in nine years.

“The additional funding provided by the governor and legislators couldn’t have come at a better time,” said TRS Executive Secretary Gary Harbin. “The investing team for teachers is to be credited with putting that additional funding to its best use. The rankings can give current and retired teachers comfort that their investment team is among the very best in the country whether the markets are up or down. TRS’s long-term investment strategy works.”

TRS’ investments have returned 6.3% over the past three years; 10.1% over the past five years; 6.3% over the last 10 years, and 8.1% over the last 30 years. TRS cited an analysis by Aon Hewitt Investment Consulting that placed the system’s 2017 returns among the top 8% of pension plans with more than $1 billion in assets, and its 10-year return among the top 9%.

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As of March 31, the TRS’ asset allocation was 62.8% in domestic and international equities; 15.9% in fixed income; 7.8% in “additional categories;” 5.7% in alternative investments; 5.5% in real estate; and 2.3% in cash equivalents.

TRS is the largest financial institution in Kentucky, with more than 140,000 teachers and other education professionals as members. The teachers’ fund pays about $2.3 billion a year in retirement and health care benefits to its members, 89% of whom live in Kentucky.

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