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

The Netherlands’ UWV battles to regain funding

The funding crisis that hit pension funds across the world may be easing – in common with the five-year long economic crisis – but restoring healthy funding levels remains a vital priority for many investors. The Netherlands’ €4.9-billion ($6.6-billion) UWV pension fund is one of that number. A funding ratio of 98.7 per cent at

The diminishing role of agents

I’ve always been frustrated by interviewing consultants and the lack of conviction they have about their decisions. “What would your ideal model portfolio look like?” I constantly ask. “It depends on the client” is the predictable and consistent answer. That may be valid, even true, but it speaks to a wider problem. Consultants are hired

Push the reset button at PRI in Person

At the United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment conference Cape Town on October 1, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation Sharan Burrow delivered a speech entitled Push the Reset Button – a Line Between Speculation and Investment. She discussed the stability of the global economy, the necessity for investors to shift to long-term

OECD leads global infrastructure push

The OECD seeks to lengthen the time horizons of investors and get institutional money flowing from across the world into infrastructure gaps.

Sustainable investment goes to school

The Robert F Kennedy Centre for Justice and Human Rights and Columbia University’s Earth Institute will run a series of high-level courses on sustainable investment focused on environmental, social and governance approaches as well as human and labour rights this autumn. The Compass Sustainable Investing Certificate program, designed for long-term investors, will have a solutions-driven

Giving time to investment governance

Roger Urwin, global head of content at Towers Watson and governance specialist, says most organisations don’t spend enough time on it, but transformational change is all about giving time to investment governance. Culture and leadership, for example is so self-evidently important in people organisations and yet it is understated in asset owners, he says. “The soft

Previous