Pa. pension officials defend use of hired money managers
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s major public pension funds are defending the careful use of highly paid money managers to guide their investments, a practice Gov. Tom Wolf has criticized.
Executives from the Public School Employees’ Retirement System and the State Employees’ Retirement System testified Monday before the House Appropriations Committee.
The officials say the two systems paid more than $650 million last year to managers who oversaw high-risk investments.
Jim Grossman, chief investment officer for the $52 billion school employees’ fund, says its managers not only met his board’s expectations but exceeded them by $1.2 billion. The fund invests about 20 percent of its portfolio in index funds managed in-house rather than by outside managers.
Wolf, who has limited control over the pension systems, has called hiring outside managers a waste of money.