State Pension Plan Making Good Gains

The latest numbers are in for the state employees’ retirement plan and they look good. Returns on the plan’s investments are in the double digits. That’s a marked improvement from this Spring, when lawmakers voted to shore it up.

110,000 Tennesseans rely on monthly retirement checks from the state.

Steve Curry oversees the plan for the state Treasury. Over the last year, he says the account’s investments have brought 12 percent in gains. In contrast, he points back a year and a half, when the fund was losing money to the tune of negative 15 percent returns. But Curry contends that even the low figure speaks well of the state’s conservative investment strategy.

“That was pretty good on a relative basis because when you looked at the stock market at that time, [it] was down almost 40 percent.”

Curry says a cautious approach is possible because every governor and legislature since the mid-70s has given the retirement system as much money as it needs to stay in the black. This year, the state is pumping $82 million into the fund.

Tennessee’s fund has weathered the downturn better than those states with less ongoing support. For example, Kentucky’s system, which also covers employees of local governments, is struggling after years of cities and counties contributing less than the state requested. Officials there estimate that plan won’t be fully funded again until 2024.