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

Towers Watson and Oxford Uni team up to uncover sustainability impediments

Towers Watson and Oxford University have launched a collaborative research effort to examine the impediments to progress in sustainability integration, with changes to mandate design one of the expected practical solutions. The project is spearheaded by thought-leaders Roger Urwin and Professor Gordon Clark. mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Ag investors release responsible investment principles

A group of eight institutional investors has launched a guiding set of principles for responsible investment in farmland, which forms part of a UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) push to provide practical guidelines for specific asset classes.mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Norges Bank forges closer research links

Some of the brightest investment minds gathered recently in Oslo for the first Financial Research Conference, conducted by the asset management arm of Norway’s central bank.mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Property survey highlights green stars

The Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) is being actively used by its investor supporters, including PGGM, to make service providers accountable for ESG performance, with the second annual survey finding a larger proportion of managers in the top quadrant this year. mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Life’s lessons can be applied to pension reform

The UK’s London Pension Fund Authority issued a green paper this week outlining the key ingredients needed to build a better scheme and its successful implementation by 2015. In all corners of the world building a better pension scheme is on the agenda. What then are some of the universal principles for success that all funds can adopt regardless of geography?

UNPRI looks for new horizons

The UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) is focused on expanding into China, India and the Middle East and driving environmental, social and governance (ESG) integration beyond equities and property and into other asset classes, says PRI executive director James Gifford.mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Previous