the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, , the New Jersey teacher pension system is paying out about $4.5 billion a year in retirement benefits and other kinds of payments to 104,000 beneficiaries. Yet contributions by active teachers and state government amount about $2.8 billion annually, leaving a $1.7 billion deficit. When the market is good, investment returns help make up the difference. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2018, for instance, a nearly 10 percent market gain generated $2 billion, which the fund largely used to pay retirees. This year, however, market gains have largely evaporated for everyone.
