PENSION FUNDS | Beaver Award to TSP

The assets of the 1,000 largest pension funds fell 2.3 percent during the year ending September 30, 2015. Total assets of these funds was valued at $8.8 trillion. The largest five funds were again (rank unchanged from 2015):

1.  The Federal Retirement Thrift Savings Plan, Washington, D.C. with a reported $443.3 billion in assets, an increase of 5 percent. The other plans in the top 20 all reported declines. CityEconomist awards the TSP a 2016 Beaver Award for having done so well when the other 19 funds were declining.

2. CalPERS,  Sacramento, Calif., reporting $285.8 billion, a decline of 3.7 percent, well above the average loss.

3. The California State Teachers' Retirement System, West Sacramento, Calif., reporting $181.9 billion, a 2.7 percent decline, more than the average loss.

4.  New York State Common Retirement Fund, Albany, N.Y., $173.5 billion, a drop of 2.6 percent, more than the average loss.

5. New York City Retirement Systems (NYCERS), $155.1 billion, a decline of 2.3 percent, equal to the average loss rate.

As measured against the Federal Retirement Thrift Savings Plan, NYCERS did terribly, 7.3 percentage points lower.

As measured against the California and New York State pension funds, NYCERS did fine. In a blind man's kingdom, a one-eyed man is king.