State pension fund posts 11.5 percent return in fiscal year

ALBANY — The New York State Common Retirement Fund produced a return of 11.55 percent for the state fiscal year ending March 31, 2024.

That’s according to New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who also reported that the fund closed the year with an estimated value of $267.7 billion.

“Strong performances across asset classes helped drive the state pension fund’s investment returns higher over the past year, with many companies reporting better than expected earnings and consumer spending remaining strong,” DiNapoli said in a June 18 news release. “While inflation persists and global tensions pose risks to investors, the Fund, thanks to its prudent management and long-term approach, is well positioned to weather any storms and continue to provide retirement security to the public employees it serves.”

The Common Retirement Fund’s value reflects retirement and death benefits of $16.07 billion paid out during the fiscal year. Employer contribution rates are determined by investment results over a multi-year period along with numerous other actuarial assumptions, including wage growth, inflation, age of retirement, and mortality. Key to the fund’s strength have been the state and local governments, which consistently pay their contributions.

As of March 31, 2024, the pension fund had 42.85 percent of its assets invested in publicly traded equities. The remaining fund assets by allocation are invested in cash, bonds, and mortgages (22.26 percent), private equity (14.60 percent), real estate and real assets (12.77 percent) and credit, absolute-return strategies and opportunistic alternatives (7.52 percent).

The pension fund’s long-term expected rate of return is 5.9 percent, the comptroller said. The fund’s annual valuation date is tied to the state fiscal year.

The New York State Common Retirement Fund is one of the largest public pension funds in the U.S. It holds and invests the assets of the New York State and Local Retirement System on behalf of more than 1 million state-government and local-government employees and retirees and their beneficiaries.