PERA lost $1.8 billion after brutal finish for 2018 stocks. Now public workers and taxpayers will

PERA lost $1.8 billion after brutal finish for 2018 stocks. Now public workers and taxpayers will pay more.


The hits just keep on coming for the Colorado state employees pension fund. But now there are safeguards in place to absorb the latest blow.

Thanks to a brutal December for stocks, Colorado’s pension lost $1.8 billion on its investments in 2018, according to the annual financial report released Friday. That’s a 3.5% drop for a portfolio that policymakers rely on to fund the retirement plans of more than 600,000 Coloradans.

As a result of the losses, last year’s landmark deal to rescue the Public Employees’ Retirement Association from the financial brink is going to cost everyone in the state millions more than initially expected.

Under a legislative guardrail installed to protect the system from economic shocks, not only will the 2018 reforms continue as scheduled, but two additional safeguards will kick in next year.

Read more: https://coloradosun.com/2019/06/21/pera-state-employees-2019-contributions/