NEPC’s Kevin Leonard was quoted in a recent Wall Street Journal article to address the potential impact of ramping up risk. View the article on The Wall Street Journal’s site here.
New York City’s comptroller is the latest public official trying to change laws aimed at limiting risk in pension investments, as U.S. state and local pension funds try to plug shortfalls in a low-return environment.
Comptroller Brad Lander, who oversees about $260 billion in retirement money for city police, firefighters, teachers and other public workers, is asking New York lawmakers for more flexibility to invest in private markets, high-yield debt and foreign stocks. The state comptroller’s office, which supervises another $280 billion in retirement assets, views the idea favorably, with a representative saying such flexibility “is key in times of market volatility.”
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“Investment advisors and managers are going to [pension] boards and saying there’s no way you’re going to meet the return assumption if you have these handcuff s on,” said Kevin Leonard, partner at NEPC, which advises public pension funds.
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