The latest fiscal year's improved performance likely benefited from stronger market returns for the period in both equities and fixed income. For the year ended June 30, the Russell 3000 and Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond index returned 19% and -0.2%, respectively, well above their respective returns of -13.9% and -10.3% for the year ended June 30, 2022.
Of the 48 public pension funds whose fiscal-year returns have been tracked by Pensions & Investments as of Thursday, the median return for the period was 7.6%.
By asset class, the pension plan's top performer was domestic equities, which posted a net return of 18.7% for the fiscal year ended June 30 (just below the benchmark return of 19%); followed by global equities, which returned a net 17.2% (16.1% benchmark); international equities, 13.4% (12.5%); hedge funds, 4.8% (6.2%); private equity, 4% (12.2%); fixed income, 2.3% (1.9%); real return, -1.7% (4.8%); and real estate, -4.3% (-4.3%).
As of June 30, the actual allocation was 23.8% fixed income, 21.9% domestic equities, 18.3% international equities, 13% private equity, 9% real estate, 5.6% hedge funds, 4.9% real return, 2.6% global equity and the rest in cash.
The target allocation is 24% fixed income, 23.2% domestic equities, 19.1% international equities, 10% each private equity and real estate, 5% each hedge funds and real return, 2.7% global equity and 1% cash.
