The maximum salary deferral employees can contribute to 401(k) or 403(b) plans will rise to $10,000 from $9,500 in 1998, according to projections by William M. Mercer. The IRS adjusts the limit annually to account for cost-of-living increases through the third quarter. The new deferral limit can be projected with near certainty, according to Mercer, prior to the formal IRS announcement expected in October.
Staff of the $80 billion California State Teachers' Retirement System will ask trustees next week to give one-year contract extensions to six real estate advisers: AMB, ERE Yarmouth, O'Connor, Westmark, SSR Realty Advisors and MIG Realty. The fund's former real estate consultant, Institutional Property Consultants, resigned in April and the staff doesn't want to develop a new real estate strategy or conduct manager searches without a consultant.
With trustee approval, the staff intends to issue an RFP in September for a consultant specializing in real estate or a general consultant with real estate expertise. Interviews are expected to begin in December, and a choice could come the following month.
The fund has $1.9 billion in real estate assets.
Trustees of the $1.5 billion Montgomery County Employees' Retirement System, Rockville, Md., yesterday decided to invest the proceeds of maturing real estate investments into REITs with LaSalle Advisors, the fund's REIT manager, according to Julie Dellinger, executive director. LaSalle managed $17 million in a separate account for the system at the end of July; Ms. Dellinger anticipates the manager will receive an additional $8 million by yearend from real estate fund liquidations.
Contra Costa County Employees Retirement Association, Concord, Calif., delayed an impending search for an EAFE manager because the board asked its consultant to review other scenarios for the $2.2 billion pension fund, said Chuck Barron, assistant retirement administrator.
The board was considering a top-down EAFE manager for a $70 million assignment. But it asked Dorn Helliesen & Cottle to evaluate bottom-up and other types of EAFE investments and report to the board.
The amount of the assignment could change as well. Funding likely will come from a reallocation.The board could make a decision by the end of the month.
