CalPERS Expects 5.8 Percent Annual Investment Return, Significantly Lower than the 7 Percent Goal

On February 7, 2017, CalPers announced they anticipate a 5.8 percent annual investment return. In our article from December 2016, ACSS provided information about CalPers lowering the discount rate from 7.5 percent to 7.0 percent. CalPERS predicts this lower estimate of 5.8 percent could reduce the portfolio’s more volatile stock and private equity sectors and increase allocations of more stable investments. CalPERS expects higher investment returns in the decades to follow.

Don Boyd, fiscal studies director at the Rockefeller Institute of Government, says “It requires a rosy view of the future to assume a long-run return on 7 percent while expecting to earn only a 5.8 percent in the first 10 years. But the alternative would require raising government contributions by even more than they have increased already, undoubtedly an unpopular and difficult move.”

>> Read the full article from Reuters here.