>https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/10/new_jerseys_pension_funds_lost.html
Posted by cjrothma October 20, 2008 15:24PM
New Jersey’s pension funds lost more than $5 billion last month, sliding to a value of $70.7 billion and continuing a swoon that has lasted more than a year.
Over the past 12 months the pension accounts have lost $12 billion in value. They now stand more than $14 billion below the peak value they reached more than eight years ago in early 2000.
For the first three months of the budget year — July, August and September — the pension accounts have lost 8.82 percent on their stock and other investments, according to the Treasury Department report.
For taxpayers, that performance is troublesome. Actuaries who calculate each year how much the state should put into the pension accounts to meet future benefit payments assume the money on hand will earn an average of 8.25 percent each year.
When longterm returns miss that mark, taxpayers must make up the difference. This year, between state and local taxes, taxpayers put more than $2 billion into the accounts, which bankroll retirement benefits for 700,000 teachers and public employees.
According to the Treasury Department report, the fund’s domestic stock holdings lost $2.6 billion in value during September, while the value of its international stock portfolio dropped from $16 billion to $13.8 billion. Other investment losses pushed the total drop for September to just over $5 billion.
https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/10/new_jerseys_pension_funds_lost.html