Salient to Investors:
Bloomberg data show that in 2011, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ chief investment officer made the most of any public pension employee in the 12 most populous U.S. states. The fund paid $9.7 million in bonuses, the most in those states, and is the 7th largest in the US. The 3 highest-performing funds over the past 10 years didn’t have an employee paid more than $270,000, and none pays bonuses.
The Texas TRS fund dropped to 81.9 percent funded as of Aug. 31 versus the median state’s 71.7 percent funded in 2011.
Funds where executives made far less posted better investment results over three and five years. Edward Siedle at Benchmark Financial Services said these executives may claim to be worth their weight in gold but they absolutely can’t justify it. Charles Skorina found a very loose correlation between pay and performance in public plans over five years. Top public pension fund executives make less than their counterparts at investment-management companies.
New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said the average Wall Street bonus fell 13 percent to $121,150 in 2011, the lowest since 2008, and down almost 40 percent from a peak of $191,360 in 2006.
Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-13/texas-pension-manager-paid-1-million-trails-peers-who-make-less.html