Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas The Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) Trust Fund earned 12.6 for the 2010 plan year (ending Sept. 30 2010) placing TRS first among all of its public pension fund peers with asset values of $10 billion or more. The TRS Board approved $9.7 million bonus payment of the first half of the 2010 in performance & incentive awards for 108 employees.
Nearly 1.3 million public education and higher education employees & retirees participate in the system.
The achievement was announced today at the TRS Board of Trustees meeting where trustees congratulated the Investment Management Division for its outstanding performance.
As of September 30 2010 the total value of the fund had reached $100.3 billion up by more than $8.9 billion from the same date a year earlier.
As a result of this exceptional performance the TRS Board approved payment of the first half of the performance incentive awards for the 2010 plan year as well as the deferred awards from the 2008 and 2009 plan years totaling $9.7 million for 108 employees.
The performance incentive program was first established in 2006. During the three-year period (2008-10) TRS employees added $2.3 billion in excess of the incentive award benchmark established for the plans.
All of us on the board could not be more pleased with this outstanding performance" said Board Chairman David Kelly.
This confirms the wisdom of the more diversified investment approach adopted by the board in 2007 and illustrates the importance of having a highly qualified team of investors. During the past few years TRS and our staff have been challenged as never before and our world-class team has responded in a skillful and methodical manner. As a result our fund remains liquid not levered and with the distinct advantage of a long-term investment horizon" Kelly said.
Investment earnings have played an important role in maintaining a healthy pension fund. Since the inception of the fund 60 percent of all contributions have come from investment earnings 20 percent from member contributions and 20 percent from state contributions. TRS delivers retirement and related benefits authorized by the Texas Legislature and currently manages a $100.3 billion trust fund established to finance member benefits. It is the 7th largest public pension plan in the U.S. and among the 20 largest funds in the world.
