The SERS Defined Benefit fund seeks to produce the highest return on investments that is consistent with acceptable investment risks while providing sufficient liquidity that will permit the fund to meet the system’s benefit obligations.
A wealth of information about the fund's holdings, asset allocations, returns, investment managers, fees, and other data is published every spring as we present supplemental budget information to the General Assembly and again by June 30 of each year in our annual comprehensive financial report.
The Right-to-Know Law expressly exempts the release of records that constitute or reveal third-party trade secrets and confidential proprietary information, if the information is privileged or disclosure would cause substantial harm to the competitive position of the person that provided the information to us. Additionally, the State Employees’ Retirement Code exempts records from access under the Right-to-Know Law if access would, in the case of an alternative investment, involve the release of sensitive investment information that we received only after agreeing to maintain its confidentiality (e.g., via contractual obligation) or if access could cause substantial competitive harm to the person from whom the information was received, or have a substantial detrimental impact on the value of an investment that we may acquire, hold, or dispose of. (For more details, see Our Duty to Safeguard Sensitive Investment Information.)
Such information has been redacted from the investment reports posted here.
This policy statement outlines the investment philosophy and practices and governs the management of the plan’s assets. This statement formalizes the SERS Board’s investment objectives and policies, and defines the duties and responsibilities of the various individuals and entities involved in the investment process. It also defines the investment portfolio structure and target asset allocations.
| Amended 09-24-2024 | ||
| Amended 06-18-2024 | Amended 03-05-2024 | Amended 05-02-2023 |
| Amended 05-05-2022 | Amended 12-08-2021 | Amended 07-28-2021 |
| Amended 04-28-2021 | Amended 12-02-2020 | Adopted 12-04-2019 |
Prior to 2019, SERS produced two-year, board-approved Strategic Investment Plans:
|
A comprehensive report prepared by SERS' independent actuary in response to Actuarial Standards of Practice (ASOP) No. 51 and Public Pension Management and Asset Investment Review Commission (PPMAIRC) recommendations. The report identifies and assesses major factors that contribute to the risk that the actual future value of benefits paid by SERS will differ from the estimated value provided by the annual actuarial valuation and the actuarially determined contributions. This report includes an analysis of “What if?” scenarios to determine the effect on future employer contributions and the availability of assets to pay benefits when due to members. These “What if?” scenarios are referred to as stress tests or scenario tests. The “What if?” scenarios are illustrative and do not represent current expectations of future experience or recommendations for changes in current policies. In each scenario, the effect on the actuarially determined contribution (ADC) and funded ratio are projected over a period of 20 years and compared to the baseline expectations. The report covers a wide range of investment-related, demographic-related and contribution-related risks that could affect the long-term health and stability of the SERS fund.
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
This policy defines consistent criteria for evaluating investment managers.
| May 5, 2022 | December 7, 2016 |
Two lists are published quarterly, one by SERS’ real estate consultant specific to publicly traded real estate securities and one by SERS’ general investment consultant relating to SERS' public market portfolio. The placement of an investment manager on the Evaluation List does not automatically serve as evidence of a problem with the investment manager. The Evaluation List was developed to clearly communicate which investment managers have been identified as experiencing quantitative or qualitative pattern changes worthy of greater review by SERS’ investment office and external investment consultants.
2024 Quarter 2 Investment Manager Evaluation List
2024 Quarter 1 Real Estate Investment Manager Evaluation List
2024 Quarter 1 Investment Manager Evaluation List
2023 Quarter 4 Real Estate Investment Manager Evaluation List
2023 Quarter 4 Investment Manager Evaluation List
2023 Quarter 3 Real Estate Investment Manager Evaluation List
2023 Quarter 3 Investment Manager Evaluation List
2023 Quarter 2 Real Estate Investment Manager Evaluation List
2023 Quarter 2 Investment Manager Evaluation List
2023 Quarter 1 Real Estate Investment Manager Evaluation List
2023 Quarter 1 Investment Manager Evaluation List
2022 Quarter 4 Real Estate Investment Manager Evaluation List
2022 Quarter 4 Investment Manager Evaluation List
2022 Quarter 3 Real Estate Investment Manager Evaluation List
2022 Quarter 3 Investment Manager Evaluation List
2022 Quarter 2 Real Estate Investment Manager Evaluation List
2022 Quarter 2 Investment Manager Evaluation List
2022 Quarter 1 Real Estate Investment Manager Evaluation List
2022 Quarter 1 Investment Manager Evaluation List
Published each December, this report discloses all business-related travel and other expenses incurred by staff and/or paid for by an external investment manager, fund, or consultant during the prior commonwealth fiscal year.
| FY 22-23 | FY 21-22 | FY 20-21 |
This report lists the fees, expenses, performance fees (for public market managers and real estate separately managed accounts) and carried interest (for private equity, private credit and private real estate managers) by investment manager.
| 2023 | |||
| 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
Posted quarterly, three months after quarter closes, this one-page summary breaks down the total fund portfolio by asset class and sub-asset class, listing each segment’s market exposure, actual allocation as a percent of the total fund, and target policy allocation and range.
Posted on an annual basis by late June, the following reports list the investment holdings as of Dec. 31 of the prior year. The reports list: the securities held, their security identification number, and their fair value for public holdings; and the fund and the capital committed, drawn, and distributed for the real estate and private equity holdings.
Prepared by the fund’s general investment consultant each quarter, three months after quarter closes, this report updates the SERS Board on the fund's returns by asset class. Such information is preliminary, unaudited, and subject to change. We do, however, share the information in post-board-meeting news releases and provide the four most recent updates here. (For actual annual performance, please see our comprehensive annual financial report.)
2024 |
|||
|
|
||
2023 |
|||
2022 |
|||
2021 |
|||
2020 |
|||
2019 |
|||
Prepared by the fund’s private equity investment consultant on a quarterly basis beginning with the report for the period ending 12/31/21, (previously provided twice a year in June and Dec.), this report updates the SERS Board on the investment performance of the fund’s private equity portfolio.
Prepared by the fund’s real estate investment consultant on a quarterly basis beginning with the report for the period ending 12/31/21, (previously provided twice a year in June and Dec.), this report updates the SERS Board on the investment performance of the fund’s real estate portfolio.
Published each April, this report details the amendments made to public market manager contracts during the prior calendar year.
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 |