On the latest episode of CEA’s podcast, State Treasurer Erick Russell joins CEA President Kate Dias and Vice President Joslyn DeLancey to break down the current state of the Teachers’ Retirement Fund and what it means for educators’ long-term financial security. As the state’s chief financial officer and principal fiduciary for its pension assets, Russell offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the fund is managed and where it’s headed.
That future-focused work comes against the backdrop of a long-standing challenge. For decades, Connecticut’s state government failed to fully fund teachers’ pensions, creating a significant shortfall that today’s elected officials are still working to close. While meaningful progress has been made in recent years, the path to full funding is ongoing.
Ten years ago, there were approximately 30 billion dollars invested across all the state’s retirement funds, Russell says.
“Today we sit at about $70 billion in assets under management, and we’re at about 65 percent funded.”
He explains, “What we’ve been doing now is digging out of that hole by putting more money into the pension fund than we’re even required to on an annual basis so that we get our funded ratio up higher. And then my job is to make sure we’re performing well, that we’re investing those funds properly so that we’re getting the best returns on those investments and growing that fund for the retirement security for teachers in our state.”
Just since 2021, the state has put over 4 billion in additional dollars over the required contributions into the Teachers’ Retirement Fund, Russell says.
“We’ve put over $10 billion in terms of the whole portfolio, and that’s saving about 900 million dollars out of the general fund every year.”
Listen to the full episode (below or wherever you get your podcasts) to learn more about the Teachers’ Retirement Fund’s recent returns, the role of the Teachers’ Retirement Board and Investment Advisory Council, and how the state treasurer makes investment decisions.
