After Ben Meng’s departure from California Public Employee’s Retirement System (CalPERS), the state pension fund is looking to increase its margins by investing more into private equity. Meng worked for over a year at CalPERS where he oversaw a disappointing level of growth, and suddenly left in August 2020 after a private complaint alleged that […]
Investing in Diversity in Pension Plans
The investment profession is slowly moving away from the stereotype of “pale, male and stale” as newer and smaller money managers take advantage of opportunities. Pension plans are citing various reasons for increasing diversity among their staff, including social responsibility, better returns, appealing to more potential investment partners, and promoting an investment class that “thinks […]
How Canada Can Inform America’s Public Pensions
Despite the coronavirus-induced economic downturn, Canadian public pension funds have maintained relative success. In fact, for the last decade Canada’s public pensions have been revered as some of the world’s most successful, owning assets in real estate, infrastructure, and natural resources while maintaining large-scale yet diversified portfolios. Canada’s Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) allocates over […]
Research Shows Disparate Private Equity Fees are Erasing Public Pension Gains
While public pension funds face dire financial circumstances due to the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, the fees paid to private equity firms reflect another reason public pensions may be losing money at a record rate. According to recent research by Stanford University, some pension funds pay more than others through privately negotiated fee […]
Public Pension Funds Key to Addressing Savings Disparities Among Black Retirees
As the COVID-19 crisis ravages state public pensions across the country, the disparities in retirement savings among American’s of different races has been pulled into sharper focus. In 2016, the typical Black household had only 46% of the wealth of a typical white household, with Hispanics having 49% of the typical wealth of a white […]
Ohio Police and Fire Pension Shifts to Gold Amidst Uncertainty
In wake of the stock-market drop off early this year due to COVID-19, state and local investment funds lost an estimated $1 trillion dollars in assets, even as it’s hidden from beneficiaries due to a lack of transparency in reporting earnings. As states have continued to fall behind on their pension obligations since the recessions […]
Rhode Island Treasurer Announces Withdrawal from Purchases from Leonard Green
Rhode Island Treasurer Seth Magaziner announced that the state plans to stop buying future funds from private-equity firm Leonard Green in the face of controversy over their control of Prospect Medical, a hospital system with facilities in Rhode Island, Southern California, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Magaziner controls the $8 billion fund, and cited Prospect […]
U.S. National Security & the I Fund
It is no secret that the U.S. and China have recently experienced diplomatic tensions, but we now see its effects bleeding into the financial sector. The Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced a rule change to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) dictating that pensions should not be used to solve the […]
Pennsylvania State Pension Fund Drops Risky Stocks in Widely Praised Move
The Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) moved to reallocate $5 billion in assets, moving $2 billion from risky investments made through Bridgewater and BlackRock to more secure stocks, bonds, commodities, and infrastructure investments. This move impacts 8% of the entire funds holdings and will take effect October 1st. Pennsylvania State Treasurer Joe Torsella […]
Former Clinton Administration Treasury Official Voices Support for Dept. of Labor ESG Rule
With the comment period recently closed on the newly proposed Department of Labor rule on ESG investments in ERISA-backed pension funds, attention now turns to the evaluation process. Over the next several months, regulators will assess the thousands of comments submitted by organizations and individuals across the country. Attention has also been growing on this […]