Recently published reports from NASRA

June 6, 2016
Recently published reports and analysis from the 
National Association of State Retirement Administrators
Updated Issue Brief: Investment Return Assumptions 

As of September 30, 2015, state and local government retirement systems held assets of $3.56 trillion. These assets are held in trust and invested to pre-fund the cost of pension benefits. The investment return on these assets matters, as investment earnings account for a majority of public pension financing. Read the brief.
Updated Issue Brief: State and Local Government Spending on Public Employee Retirement Systems 

State and local government pension benefits are paid not from general operating revenues, but from trust funds to which public retirees and their employers contributed while they were working. On a nationwide basis, pension contributions made by state and local governments account for roughly 4.1 percent of direct general spending in FY 2013. Read the brief.
                  Ten Things You Should Know About Public Plan Disclosure Changes

National organizations representing state and local governments published a fact sheet which addresses common misinterpretations of new public pension calculations, including GASB 68 and proprietary calculations developed by credit rating agencies.
The document provides 10 key takeaways regarding existing disclosures, notable changes, and their effects. Read the fact sheet.
Overview of Primary Retirement Benefit Type

The primary retirement plan varies by state, and in some cases, different plan types are provided to employees in different occupations or dates of hire within the same state.
NASRA has developed a reference guide that identifies the primary retirement plan type by state, accessed from www.nasra.org/plandesign.