Pension Fund earns $125
million in July, outperforms benchmark
Rhode Island's pension fund
continued to deliver strong performance under state General Treasurer Seth Magaziner's Back to
Basics investment strategy earning $125 million in July.
That 1.51 percent
return on the month finished ahead of the fund's benchmark which returned 1.31
percent. The positive performance was driven by investments in the global stock
market - mostly low fee index funds designed to provide long-term growth.
"Public servants who spend their careers deserve to know that their pensions will be there for them in retirement and taxpayers deserve to have their public pension systems managed responsibly," said General Treasurer Seth Magaziner. "My Back to Basics investment strategy is performing well and the health of the system continues to improve."
In the 3-year period ending July
31, 2018 the fund also outperformed its benchmarks; earning an annualized
return of 6.68 percent versus the plan benchmark return of 6.34 percent, as
well as a traditional 60 percent stock/40 percent bonds portfolio, which would
have earned 6.06 over the same period.
Over a 5-year period, the fund
earned an annualized return of 6.95 percent, outperforming the internal
benchmark return of 6.71 percent and a 60/40 benchmark, which posted 6.41
percent.
Detailed information about the
$8.4 billion fund, including the Back to Basics investment strategy,
performance, and detailed information about its managers are published online
as part of Treasurer Magaziner's "Transparent Treasury" initiative at
investments.treasury.ri.gov.
