Louisiana Firefighters misses benchmark with 3.2% return

Louisiana Firefighters' Retirement System, Baton Rouge, reported a preliminary net return of 3.2% for the fiscal year ended June 30.

The return falls short of its policy benchmark return of 4.1%, according to a report posted on the $1.8 billion pension fund's website.

For the three and five years ended June 30, the pension fund returned an annualized net 4.7% and 5%, respectively, below the respective policy benchmark returns of 6.2% and 6.4%.

For the 10 years ended June 30, the pension fund returned a net 5.9%; a policy benchmark return was not provided.

The pension fund returned a net 4.2% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019.

By asset class, the best performer was core fixed income, which returned a net 8.5% for the fiscal year ended June 30 (below its benchmark return of 8.7%), followed by U.S. Treasury inflation-protected securities, with a net return of 8.2% (equal to its benchmark).

Those asset class returns were followed by private equity, with a net return of 6.3% (below its 8.7% benchmark); global asset allocation strategies, 4.2% (4.1%); domestic equities, 2.9% (6.5%); real estate, 2.5% (5.3%); global equities, -1.6% (2.1%);emerging markets equities, -4.4% (-3.4%); and international equities, -5.8% (-4.8%).

As of June 30, the actual allocation was: 26.3% core fixed income; 22.3% domestic equities; 11.6% international equities; 9.6% global equities; 9.2% GAA; 6.2% real estate; 4.9% emerging markets equities; 4.1% private equity; 3.2% U.S. TIPS; 1.4% cash; and 1.2% emerging markets debt.