Optimistic CalSTRS Board Lowers Its Assumed Rate of Return But Not All the Way Down to Our 7.5%

Since CalSTRS’ new assumption is still above ours, we can claim to be more conservative in our pension funding planning. See below:

CalSTRS lowers forecast on future investment returns (excerpt)

Dec. 3, 2010, Dale Kasler, Sacramento Bee

After agonizing for months, CalSTRS made a decision Thursday that seems subtle but has enormous financial implications. The teachers’ pension fund agreed to lower its long-term forecast of future annual investment returns by a quarter of a percentage point…

On an 8-3 vote, the board of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System agreed to cut the investment return forecast to 7.75 percent a year.

As significant as the board’s vote was, it was a partial measure. CalSTRS’ investment staff and outside consultants urged the board to lower the forecast by a half point, to 7.5 percent, in light of the long-term investment outlook.

…Pension funds in several other states are also lowering their forecasts. The board of CalPERS, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, expects to vote in February on whether to change its forecast, which is 7.75 percent.

…Board members were reluctant to make any reduction, knowing it could weaken CalSTRS’ standing in the Legislature and put pressure on teachers. At the board meeting, representatives of three teachers’ groups urged the board to move cautiously…

Full article at http://www.sacbee.com/2010/12/03/v-print/3229533/calstrs-lowers-forecast-on-future.html