麻花视频

The retirement system, with more than , has not released its rate of return on investments in the fiscal year that ended on June 30, but those investments were earning a return of 6.3% in the first nine months of the fiscal year 鈥� below its benchmark of 7.9% and the annual targeted return of 6.75%.

But VRS officials told state legislators on Monday that they expect no major changes in the contribution rates the board of trustees will adopt in October for the two-year budget proposal that will present in December and the General Assembly will consider in the 60-day legislative session that will begin in January.

鈥淲e anticipate those rates to be comparable to the current budget cycle,鈥� said Sandy Jack, director of policy planning and compliance at VRS.

VRS appears optimistic about the performance of its investments in the final quarter. It began with a severe market downturn after President Donald Trump announced his 鈥淟iberation Day鈥� tariffs on April 2 and led to a significant rebound in June despite mixed signals from the White House over threats to the United States鈥� trading partners across the world.

The state鈥檚 retirement trust fund exceeded $118.2 billion on March 31, but VRS Chairman Scott Andrews estimated its total value at $120 billion in a presentation to the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission. VRS said his estimate was preliminary but confirmed that investment returns in June increased the trust fund鈥檚 value.

VRS investment returns matter to state lawmakers, who have to make up for losses in the state budget. Since adopting major reforms to the retirement system in 2012, the General Assembly and four governors have committed to providing the money that VRS says it needs to pay for ongoing retirement benefits and reduce unfunded long-term liabilities. Those changes addressed long-term state underfunding of public employee pensions, especially after the Great Recession hammered the trust fund in 2009.

Still, the retirement system鈥檚 unfunded liabilities range from $16 billion to $18 billion, depending on whether it counts their current market value or the actuarial accounting it uses to smooth out gains and losses, and to set rates.

Currently, the state pays 12.57% of payroll for state employee pension benefits and the state and local school divisions pay 14.21% for teachers, who represent the largest portion of the 857,643 current or former employees that the system covers. Employees also pay 5% of their wages into their pension accounts.

The VRS Board of Trustees has come under criticism for not always matching the performance of indexed stock and fixed-income funds but instead diversifying its investments and relying on a well-paid internal staff to manage one-third of them.

But VRS officials say they focus on managing risks, as well as maximizing returns, after the losses during the Great Recession.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we鈥檙e really focused on here is balancing risks and returns,鈥� Chief Investment Officer Andrew Junkin told legislators.

The risks include Trump鈥檚 shifting tariff threats, which intensified over the weekend and are 鈥減robably changing while I鈥檓 speaking,鈥� Junkin said.

鈥淭he markets, at the moment, seem to be shrugging all of that off after the initial reaction,鈥� he said.

One of the risks for pension fund investments is countries that Trump has designated as foreign adversaries: the People鈥檚 Republic of China, as well as its 鈥渁utonomous regions鈥� of Hong Kong and Macau; Russia; North Korea; Cuba; Iran; and the Maduro regime in Venezuela. Trump issued an executive order in February that targeted investments in those countries, but the VRS board had begun to discuss the issue shortly after the presidential election in November.

The board directed Junkin to develop a policy on 鈥渃ertain investments, which established a framework for the prudent mitigation of economic exposure to those countries that have been designated as foreign adversaries by the Office of the Secretary of Commerce,鈥� VRS spokesperson Virginia Sowers said. 鈥淰RS believed that certain investment risks were not being fully captured by markets, with regard to geopolitical events.鈥�

The board adopted its new policy in June to 鈥渕itigate investment exposure to those countries where we believe investment risks are significantly higher than those being reflected by current markets or where international trade and investment are made more challenging by geopolitical concerns,鈥� Sowers said. 鈥淭his is not a divestment policy.鈥�

As a result, VRS has changed three of its benchmarks for investments in China and Hong Kong to reflect economic exposure to sanctions or other potential U.S. actions.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not eliminating exposure to China because it鈥檚 frankly impossible,鈥� Junkin said. 鈥淲e have mitigated it.鈥�