PERS Report Shows Improvement
PERS investment report shows $40.3 billion in assets, 6.3% projected return
The Mississippi Public Employees' Retirement System Board of Trustees reviewed an investment report Oct. 29 showing the pension system's assets growing and management fees falling.
The report, presented under Tab H at the board meeting, covered figures as of Sept. 30 and late October. According to the report, as given by a speaker identified as Charles Nelson, the system's chief investment officer, the fund held 74 portfolios managed by 37 managers. "At the end of September, assets amounted to $40.2 billion," he said. "As of the close of the 25th, assets stood at $40.3 billion with a projected return for the fiscal year of 6.3%." He also told the board that "last year, the investment management fee was 0.28% of net asset value," adding, "this is a 7% decrease compared to last year's 0.3% of net worth."
The board received the report during its regular meeting.
The figures bear on the retirement system's long-term solvency, which in turn affects contribution rates paid by public employees and the state. A projected 6.3% return for the fiscal year and a drop in management fees to 0.28% of net asset value are both factors in how well the system's investments are keeping pace with its pension obligations. The report does not itself draw conclusions about whether the numbers represent improvement or decline relative to the system's funding targets; it presents the asset totals, portfolio count and fee percentage as reported to the board. Those figures — $40.2 billion at the end of September, rising to $40.3 billion by late October, managed across dozens of portfolios — represent the latest snapshot of a fund whose performance is tracked independently of how it is characterized in board presentations.