Longterm Thinking Wins
Congratulating the Indiana pension investment team for years of hard work, solid performance, and preparation for today's tough markets and beyond.
I’m reprinting below a short email message to my fellow trustees of the Indiana Public Retirement System (INPRS) and to our investment staff.
September 14, 2022
Greetings from New York, where I attended the Institutional Investor awards dinner last night. See the beautiful view of Central Park. Happy to report that INPRS won the 2022 Investment Committee/Board of the Year.
The nomination was for our “bold” decision to reduce our target rate of return to 6.25% even after years of solid performance. That simple number distills a whole universe of big strategic decisions, tiny but important details, and our fundamental duties to Hoosier savers and retirees.
Thanks to all our Board and Investment Working Group members for your hard work and insistence on basic investment principles regardless of what others may think or do. We’ve been on the leading edge of risk balance and prudent rate targeting for the last 10+ years, where the rest of the industry has often followed us with a several-year lag. Within this larger framework, the investment team has chosen managers who added alpha on top – a nice bonus.
Our strategy has performed well in good, seemingly-easy markets but was designed to withstand much tougher periods – as in, right now! No time to relax.
I want to especially thank CIO Scott Davis and his team and Jeff MacLean of Verus for their expert research, diligence, and wise counsel. I’ve learned so much from them.
Thanks, as always, to Steve Russo and Tony Green for their overall leadership. Proud of everyone at INPRS.
Let’s keep learning and getting better!
Bret