LASERS Ranks in Top 10 Among State Pensions with Best 10-Year Returns

A new study from researchers at Cliffwater LLC analyzing 10-year returns lists the Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System (LASERS) as one of the top 10 state pension plans in the United States. LASERS experienced a 6.7 percent annualized return for the 10-year period ended June 30, 2011.

Data for the study, “Trends in State Pension Asset Allocation and Performance,” was taken from the 2011 comprehensive annual financial reports of 96 state pension plans. Cliffwater research revealed that pension plans with “higher allocations to alternative investments generally experienced better 10-year returns than those with less exposure.” In addition, researchers “found that those decade-long returns owed more to manager and fund selection than to the size of the alternatives allocation.”

Returns ranged in the top 10 from 7.1 percent at the Missouri State Employees’ Retirement System to 6.5 percent at the Massachusetts Pensions Reserve Investment Management Board and Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund.  LASERS was one of four plans with a 6.7 percent annualized 10-year return.