Welcome to the TRS Online Pressroom
If you are a journalist and need information that is not listed, please direct your inquiries to:
Dave Urbanek
Public Information Officer
Phone: 217-753-0968
Cell: 217-720-3961
email: public_information_officer@trs.illinois.gov
For more contact information, click here.
Press Releases
The latest releases are listed below.
Issues Update
Read about the latest topics of interest facing TRS: Issues Update
TRS Speaks
A sampling of the letters and emails that TRS has submitted to the media in Illinois and across the country in its effort to correct the record: TRS Speaks
A “New Reality” for TRS Funding – Acting Today to Prevent Future Insolvency
TRS is working to educate its members and the general public about a “new reality” in state government that throws the System’s long-term financial viability into serious doubt. Teachers’ Retirement System is not proposing any changes in member benefits.
In February TRS Executive Director Dick Ingram informed the System’s Board of Trustees that TRS can no longer be confident that the General Assembly will appropriate all of the money to TRS that is required by law. The State of Illinois’ growing budget deficit and the System’s $43 billion unfunded liability is together causing this “new reality” at TRS.
If the General Assembly does not continue to provide all of the funding called for in state law, calculations done by TRS actuaries show that the System could become insolvent as soon as 2030. Preventing insolvency may include significant changes for TRS – new revenues must be generated and if they are not expenses may have to be reduced.
Significant changes in revenue for TRS pensions or changes in the System’s benefits can only be made by the General Assembly. TRS has not suggested or proposed any plan to help solve this problem and specifically has not proposed any plan to change member benefits.
Response to Media Questions About TRS Investment Practices
From time to time, Teachers’ Retirement System gets questions from legislators, academics, members and others asking about the System’s investment decisions. Specifically, these questions center on whether TRS is making risky investments in order to “overreach” for investment returns that would help reduce our unfunded liability and whether the allocation of TRS assets to “alternative” investments is a prudent move.
The answers are: TRS does not invest with the goal of making up the System’s unfunded liability. TRS investments in “alternatives” are prudent and are designed more to reduce volatility in the overall portfolio.
Most recently these questions came from Crain’s Chicago Business and the System believes it is helpful to share our extensive responses to these questions.
For the complete TRS response, click here.
For point-by-point answers to accusations raised in the Crain's story, click here.
For the Crain's Letter to the Editor, click here.
Questions About TRS Investment Practices
Between 2001 and 2010, Teachers’ Retirement System generated $10 in investment revenue for every $1 paid in fees to outside firms hired to invest our members’ money on their behalf.
These numbers are important because the Better Government Association and WBBM-TV, both based in Chicago, raised questions in April about the amount of fees paid by TRS to external money managers. The BGA found that between 2001 and 2010, TRS spent $1.3 billion on fees, yet the average investment rate of return for the decade was 3.7 percent, well below the System’s target of 8.5 percent.
This is like comparing apples and oranges and does not provide a true picture of TRS investments. It’s the dollars that matter. Investment revenues between 2001 and 2010 totaled $10.937 billion. Fees totaled $1.3 billion.
The BGA also chose a period of time that included unprecedented world-wide financial downturn in 2008-2009 that caused all large investors to lose money. Other arbitrary measures of time produce the following investment results for TRS against the System’s target of 8.5 percent:
- Between 1981 and 2011, including the 10 years studied by the BGA, investment returns averaged 9.3 percent.
- Between April of 2009 and March of 2012, investment returns averaged 14.8 percent.
- Between 2003 and 2007, investment returns averaged 12.64 percent.
In fiscal year 2011, which ended last June, TRS recorded a 23.6 percent rate of return after all fees had been subtracted and generated $7.2 billion in investment income. At the end of March, 2012 total TRS assets stood at $37 billion.
From time to time, TRS gets questions from legislators, academics, members and others asking about the System’s investment decisions. Specifically, these questions center on fees paid to external investment managers; whether TRS is making risky investments in order to “overreach” for investment returns that would help reduce our unfunded liability or whether the allocation of TRS assets to “alternative” investments is a prudent move.
TRS believes it is helpful to our members that we share our responses to the questions asked by the BGA.
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
The following information covers frequently asked TRS questions. Click on the following links to learn more about:
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