RI Pension Fund Closes Out 2020 Reaching All-Time High of Nearly $9.5 Billion
GoLocalProv News Team
RI Pension Fund Closes Out 2020 Reaching All-Time High of Nearly $9.5 Billion
"My number one priority is to support economic opportunity and protect the state's finances, including the Pension Fund," said Magaziner. "Even in a time of extreme market volatility, my Back to Basics investment strategy has protected the Pension Fund for those families whose livelihoods depend upon it and has spurred growth, resulting in the fund closing out the year at an all-time high."
According to the Treasurer's office, Rhode Island's funding ratio has increased slightly since 2018, when Rhode Island was one of only 9 states in the country with a funding ratio of less than 60%.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTIn 2018, RI's pension system was funded at 54.2% -- it is now at 60.5%.
When Pew last compared states in 2018, 19 states were at least 80% funded.
Performance in Focus
Under Treasurer Magaziner's Back to Basics strategy, the Rhode Island Pension Fund has consistently outperformed its peers; it performed better than 87 percent of similar funds in the 2020 fiscal year, said Magaziner's office.
And with 2020 at a close, the Pension Fund has now outperformed its own plan benchmark, earning 11.87% on the year compared to the plan benchmark return of 11.49%.
Among the plan's strongest performing underlying investments for the year were US stock market index funds which returned 20.83% and the Crisis Protection Strategy introduced to the plan by Treasurer Magaziner, which returned 15.54%.
Additional information about the 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 http://investments.treasury.ri.gov.
All performance is reported on a "net of fees" basis.