PSERS hits 6.68% investment return for last fiscal year

The Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) has reported a 6.68 percent net investment return rate for the 2018–2019 fiscal year.

The data, representing the retirement system’s fiscal year from July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019, was released Sept. 13 at a special public meeting of the pension fund’s board of trustees.

PSERS CIO James Grossman attributed the positive one-year return and the 10-year return rate of 9.02 percent to PSERS’ diversified asset portfolio, which totals about $57.7 billion.

Performance this past year was driven by strong, net of fee results from private equity, gold, long treasury and risk parity investments, he said. Grossman believes by spreading out investments among more than a dozen asset classes, the pension fund can better withstand the market uncertainty.

He cited ongoing trade issues between the United States and China, the upcoming U.S. presidential election, the low interest rate climate, th