Portfolio Management Strategy

Plan assets are managed on a total return basis with an emphasis on both capital appreciation as well as the production of income, in order to satisfy the short-term and long-term funding needs of TMRS. The long-term expected rate of return on pension plan investments was determined using a building-block method in which best estimate ranges of expected future real rates of return (expected returns, net of pension plan investment expense and inflation) are developed for each major asset class. These ranges are combined to produce the long-term expected rate of return by weighting the expected future real rates of return by the target asset allocation percentage and by adding expected inflation. In determining their best estimate of a recommended investment return assumption under the various alternative asset allocation portfolios, GRS focused on the area between (1) arithmetic mean (aggressive) without an adjustment for time (conservative) and (2) the geometric mean (conservative) with an adjustment for time (aggressive). The target allocation and best estimates of real rates of return for each major asset class in fiscal year 2017 are summarized in the following table: