ATRS has been investing and safeguarding retirement assets for Arkansas’s public education professionals since 1937. The investment returns that we generate enable us to keep the promise of a guaranteed lifetime retirement benefit for our members.

I often get questions from members about our investments – where and how we invest, who is responsible, and how we are doing. I find that members sometime don’t fully comprehend the size and reach of our investments. We at ATRS are responsible for an investment portfolio of more than $22 billion. Just last year, our investments added more than $2 billion to the System’s assets, funds that will be used to pay future retirement benefits for ATRS members.

In their last few meetings, the ATRS Board has approved several new investments, each of them ranging from $40 million to $100 million. That’s a lot of money, and we firmly believe that every dollar counts. But for perspective, remember that a $40 million investment represents less than 0.2% of our overall portfolio.

I describe our ATRS investment portfolio as having three important qualities. Our portfolio is global, it is diversified, and it is professionally managed.

Global Investments: There are more than 60 stock exchanges operating around the world, trading stock in thousands of different companies. ATRS is invested in most of those stock exchanges and has stock ownership in most of those companies. This means that ATRS has a stake in literally thousands of stocks and bonds all over the world.

The majority of our investment portfolio is in the United States, because the US is the world’s largest economy. When US stocks are down, our global investments help balance out any losses and ensure that we can profit from other thriving markets around the world.

It can be surprising to know just how far our global reach is. ATRS has a stake in everything from Apple stock in the US, to corporate bonds issued in Japan by Mitsubishi, to government bonds issued by Peru.

Diversification: ATRS spreads its funds among many different types of investments. A little less than half of our portfolio is invested in stocks, and another 20% is invested in fixed income products like bonds. The rest of the portfolio is invested in funds that are not publicly traded. This includes things like private equity, real estate, timber, and agriculture.

The reason that we diversify our investment portfolio among many types of investments is that it smooths out the ups and downs of investing (or, to put it in the technical language of the professionals, it reduces volatility). When one type of investment is down, other types are steady or up, balancing out any losses.

Professional Management: Outside expertise is what brings it all together. ATRS hires top notch experts, people who manage assets for large corporations, wealthy families, and other large institutional investors like ATRS. And that gives us access to investment opportunities that just aren’t available to the public or to individual investors.

Under state law, ATRS cannot make an investment without receiving the “advice” of an outside investment consultant. Our investment consultants advise the ATRS Board and staff on our overall investment strategy. They make recommendations for the selection of individual investment managers to invest ATRS funds. The consultants then monitor the work of those managers to ensure we are getting the best return for our money.

Over the years, ATRS has worked with hundreds of different investment managers all over the world. If you’re curious to know what investment managers ATRS uses, we publish a list every year in our Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. You can find last year’s report, as well as the reports for the last 20 years, at this link:

https://www.artrs.gov/publications

These three qualities of the ATRS investment portfolio – global reach, diversification, and professional management, have paid off for ATRS members with excellent returns over time. According to our most recent investment reports, ATRS has a 10-year return of 8.0%. That return puts us in the top 3% percentile of public pension funds around the country.    

If you ever have a question or concern about ATRS investments, you are welcome to call or email me anytime. My contact information is below. I am always glad to talk to ATRS members and answer their questions.   

Mark White
Executive Director, ATRS
MarkW@artrs.gov
Office: (501) 621-8853
Cell: (501) 541-2057