State pension fund posts 4.5% return in latest quarter

ALBANY, N.Y. — The estimated value of the New York State Common Retirement Fund hit $242.3 billion at the end of the state’s 2022-2023 fiscal third quarter.

For the three-month period ending Dec. 31, 2022, the fund’s investments returned an estimated 4.51 percent, the office of New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced Feb. 10. 

“The equity markets had some difficult times in 2022, but the fund posted positive results for the quarter,” DiNapoli said. “Market volatility may persist in 2023, but the fund remains well-diversified and built to handle these ups and downs. Our pensioners and members can remain confident that their benefits are safe thanks to our prudent management and long-term perspective,” he added.

The fund’s value reflects retirement and death benefits of $3.794 billion paid out during the quarter.

As of Dec. 31, the New York State Common Retirement Fund had 43.49 percent of its assets invested in publicly traded equities. The remaining fund assets by allocation are invested in cash, bonds, and mortgages (22.07 percent); private equity (14.77 percent); real estate and real assets (13.43 percent); and credit, absolute return strategies, and opportunistic alternatives (6.24 percent), per DiNapoli’s office.

The fund’s long-term expected rate of return is 5.9 percent.

DiNapoli initiated quarterly performance reporting by the pension fund in 2009 “as part of his on-going efforts to increase accountability and transparency.”

About the state pension fund 

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 and local-government employees and retirees and their beneficiaries.