Aug. 17, 2022
To whom it may concern, Transparency is needed regarding pension fund fees and interest paid to private equity. Pension funds need to have greater transparency to allow comparison-shopping on fees and returns and to be able to demand better terms. Pension funds should also be required to disclose all fees associated with how pension fund money is invested and where. Currently these fees from private equity, hedge funds and stocks and bonds are not required to be disclosed. I am a retiree receiving a state pension from the Arizona State Retirement System after accumulating 23 years of pension eligible service. A couple of months ago I received my first pension increase since retiring in 2009 - $21 a month - about $1 for each year of service. Just to keep up with inflation (38% over the 2009-2022 period) the monthly increase should have been $453 not $21. Due to a lack of transparency as to why there have been no pension increases over such a long period of time (private equity fees, interest rates paid etc. need to be disclosed), we don't know because the pension fund will not tell us. In the bigger picture private equity should be banned from public pension funds and only publically traded companies be allowed to invest in pension funds Thank you for your time Glenn France