A few years ago, the Oklahoma Legislature decided to shore up the Teachers’ Retirement System because it was underfunded. It seems those actions are paying off because the system had the 5th best investment returns in the U.S. and is in its best actuarial condition in its history according to Pensions & Investments magazine.
“This is a tremendous achievement for the State of Oklahoma as it continues to make progress on one of its longstanding financial problems,” said Executive Director Tom Spencer. “The credit for this goes to so many people who have been committed to properly funding the pension system.”
The improvement has been largely possible because of the “dedicated revenue” it receives from income tax and sales tax. In addition several pieces of pension reform legislation have been passed that have made future retirement ages more realistic and have made it more difficult to increase retirement benefits and incur the higher cost that goes with them.
“Many legislators, governors, TRS Board trustees and staff over the last 20 years, all share credit for this too. Adequate revenue, pension reform and consistently superior investment performance made this possible,” said Spencer.
