Illinois Teachers Union Pension Fund Doesn't Mind High Fees: Cost of Doing Business

Crain's Chicago Business reports:

We're good.

That's essentially the attitude of those running the Teachers Retirement System of Illinois, which spent a whopping $1.3 billion over the last decade on financial management fees only to get a lackluster 3.7 percent annual return during that span, according to a recent Better Government Association investigation.

TRS, which doesn't dispute those numbers, also doesn't think there's a problem. Such investment fees are a cost of doing business and returns always fluctuate, the pension fund contends.

Yet after examining 10 years' worth of TRS' escalating fees and uneven results between 2001 and 2010, the BGA is not as sanguine. TRS stakeholders, including thousands of educational system personnel throughout Illinois, would benefit if the pension fund took a harder look at escalating financial management and adviser fees.

Great moments in public education.