ALBANY, N.Y. — The New York State Common Retirement Fund produced an estimated return of 4.74 percent in the final quarter of 2021, its fiscal third quarter. That’s according to New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli who also noted that the fund ended the quarter with an estimated value of $279.7 billion. “A strong [fiscal] […]
ALBANY, N.Y. — The New York State Common Retirement Fund produced an estimated return of 4.74 percent in the final quarter of 2021, its fiscal third quarter.
That’s according to New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli who also noted that the fund ended the quarter with an estimated value of $279.7 billion.
“A strong [fiscal] third quarter kept our state pension fund on track, despite ongoing market volatility,” the comptroller said. “Our focus, as always, remains long-term, sustainable investment returns that will ensure our members and their beneficiaries continue to have secure pensions for generations to come.”
The state pension fund’s estimated value reflects benefits of $3.62 billion paid out to retirees and beneficiaries during its fiscal third quarter (the fund’s fiscal year ends March 31). Its audited value, as of fiscal year end March 31, 2021, was $258.1 billion and the state fiscal year 2020-21 annual return was 33.55 percent.
As of Dec. 31, 2021, the pension fund had 51.38 percent of its assets invested in publicly traded equities. The remaining fund assets by allocation are invested in cash, bonds, and mortgages (22.37 percent); private equity (12.36 percent); real estate and real assets (8.52 percent); and credit, absolute return strategies, and opportunistic alternatives (5.37 percent).
The S&P 500 index rose more than 10 percent in the final quarter of 2021.
DiNapoli initiated quarterly investment performance reporting in 2009 as part of his “ongoing efforts to increase accountability and transparency,” his office said. Quarterly rates of return provide a snapshot of performance over three months and reflect a fraction of the fund’s annual investment return, which is targeted at 5.9 percent.
About the state pension fund
DiNapoli’s office describes the New York State Common Retirement Fund as “one of the largest” public pension funds in the U.S.
The fund holds and invests the assets of the New York State and Local Retirement System on behalf of more than 1 million state and local-government employees and retirees and their beneficiaries.
The fund has “consistently been ranked as one of the best managed and best funded plans in the nation,” DiNapoli’s office contended.