SWIB records strong investment performance for 2021

The State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) today announced that its 2021 performance generated strong returns for the fully funded $147 billion Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS).

The Core Fund, the larger of the two WRS trust funds with more than $136 billion in assets, ended the year with a preliminary net return of 16.89 percent. The Core Fund’s preliminary five- and 10-year returns net of external manager fees were 12.47 percent and 10.10 percent, respectively. SWIB beat its performance benchmarks for all these periods.

SWIB’s preliminary five- and 10-year returns exceeded the long-term WRS investment target of 6.8 percent and are expected to result in positive annuity adjustments for beneficiaries in 2022 and stable employer and employee contribution rates. On a preliminary basis, SWIB’s investment management has added value to the WRS trust funds of more than $2.2 billion above benchmark returns during the past five years.

“In 2021, SWIB generat