IL Teachers System Earnings Beat Expectations for Fiscal 2010

November 1, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Investments of the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) of Illinois posted a 13.5% rate of return during fiscal year 2010.

The earnings boosted the system’s total assets to $31.3 billion, an increase of $2.8 billion over the previous year’s total. According to a news release, TRS assets totaled $31,302,702,799 on June 30, 2010, the end of the state’s fiscal year. Assets at the end of fiscal year 2009 totaled $28,497,729,443.  

The System’s domestic equity holdings posted a 17.4% gain for the 2010 fiscal year, while international equity holdings earned 11.68%. Fixed income holdings gained 17.05% during the fiscal year, and real return funds posted a 14.09% gain.  

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Absolute return funds held by the system earned 11%, and private equity holdings posted a 19.01% gain. Only the System’s real estate holdings posted a loss for the fiscal year, at -4.83%.  

The news release said Buck Consultants determined that at the end of fiscal year 2010, the unfunded liability of TRS was $39.8 billion, or 52% of all outstanding obligations – $4.8 billion higher than the FY 2009 figure of $35 billion. The increase in the unfunded liability during FY 2010 continues to reflect the 26% loss in investment income recorded during the 2008-2009 financial crisis and the accompanying sale of assets needed to meet pension and benefit payments.  

The Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois provides retirement, disability and survivor benefits to teachers, administrators and other public school personnel employed outside of Chicago. The system serves 365,000 members and had assets of $31.3 billion as of June 30, 2010.

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