Study accounts for TIPS, alternatives

PERS logoThe effects of adding TIPS and alternatives to the existing asset mix are being explored in an asset liability analysis conducted for the $53 billion Oregon Public Employees Retirement System by Strategic Investment Solutions.

A presentation from SIS, which looked at five new asset allocation scenarios adding a 5 per cent alternatives allocation, and between a 0.1 per cent and 11.4 per cent allocation to TIPS, showed all except the most conservative mix achieved the actuarial return without accounting for alpha.

Further, reducing the total equities allocation by nearly 10 per cent, achieved through halving public equities and slightly increasing private equities, together with a 5 per cent and 4 per cent allocation to alternatives and TIPS, would yield the same expected return.

A risk/reward analysis was used to point toward an appropriate level of risk/return with the consultant finding generally the Sharpe ratio, or risk/return efficiency was higher for lower return mixes.

With liquidity analysis, and scenario analysis in inflation, deflation, recession and low-return environments, the conclusion was that the ultimate net cost does not suggest taking less risk.

A July presentation to the investment committee will include defining the ALM analyses, refining a potential asset allocation policy (including new asset classes such as the opportunity portfolio, alternatives and TIPS) and adopting a new asset allocation policy.

Sponsored Content

Asset allocation

Asset class target Mix4-1 Mix4-2 Mix4-3 Mix4-4 Mix4-5 current mix
Public equity 46% 19.8% 21.9% 24.2% 31.4% 39.2% 42.9%
Private equity 16% 18.8% 20.7% 22.9% 24.0% 25.0% 19.8%
Fixed income 27% 36.9% 36.9% 31.5% 28.5% 20.7% 25.7%
Real estate 11% 8.2% 10.1% 12.1% 11.0% 10.0% 9.4%
TIPS 0% 11.4% 5.5% 4.3% 0.1% 0.1% 0%
Alts Port 0% 5.0% 4.8% 5.0% 5.0% 5.0% 2.2%
Equity 73% 51.7% 57.6% 64.2% 71.4% 79.2% 74.3%
Expected return 8.61% 7.75% 8.08% 8.42% 8.76% 9.09% 8.61%
Std deviation 12.8% 10% 10.9% 11.9% 12.9% 14% 12.8%
Sharpe ratio 0.44 0.47 0.47 0.46 0.45 0.44 0.44

source: Strategic Investment Solutions

Leave a Comment

Sort content by

Make the most of your funds managers

Access to investment smarts and better fee alignment are just some of the benefits institutional investors can gain through their mandates with funds managers, says Craig Baker, global head of manager research with Towers Watson.mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Conservative overweighting hinders world’s largest investor

An overweight allocation to domestic bonds has not helped the world’s largest investor in the June quarter, with a massive $42 billion shaved off the assets of the ¥116,802 billion ($1.37 trillion), Government Pension Investment Fund of Japan (GPIF).mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Deflation: the taboo which needs to be examined

The funds management industry is famous for its navel-gazing. After a crisis, you can just imagine how much of it goes on. But, perhaps, that self-examination may provide more rewards if it starts to actually look at industry taboos rather than accepted practices.mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

European pension funds have blinkered view of risk

The liability-hedging portfolio of European pension funds is imprecisely modelled at nearly half of the pension funds as measured in a EDHEC-Risk Institute survey.mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Financial health reports essential says Mercer

After the damage of the global financial crisis, funds should be submitting themselves for voluntary financial health checks to diagnose vulnerabilities and pinpoint risks, asset consulting firm Mercer says.  mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Liquidity as an investment style

This paper by Yale School of Management Professors, Roger Ibbotson and Zhiwu Chen, shows that liquidity, as measured by stock turnover or trading volume, is an economically significant and distinct investment style, and introduces and examines the performance of several portfolio strategies.mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Previous