Webinar Focuses on Convertible Securities

Webcast Allows Retirement Fund Trustees and Administrators Opportunity to Earn Continuing Education Credit

Webcasts Focus on Fiduciary Responsibilities

No Cost to Register for Two-part Program

Thought Leaders Discuss Fund Rebalancing

There are benefits to realigning asset portfolio, say experts

New Report Highlights Funding Strategies

Retirement institute summarizes lesser-known pension funding approaches

Learn About Investing Outside the U.S. in Webinar Replay

New and Continuing Public Pension Fund Trustees and Administrators Earn CE/CPE Credit

Catch Replay of Real Estate Investment Webinar

Pension Fund Trustees and Administrators Earn Continuing Education Credit Through TEXPERS' Online Learning

HPS Hosts Educational Webinar on Direct Lending

Online Learning Opportunity Satisfies State-mandated Educational Requirements

TEXPERS Hosts Educational Webinar

Pension Industry Thought Leaders Discuss Outsourced CIO Relationships During Online Moderated Event

Image by Alexandra_Koch from Pixabay 

TEXPERS Staff Report

What are the general duties of pension plan consultants and outsourced chief investment officers? TEXPERS gathered industry thought leaders for an educational webinar to give the trustees and administrators of TEXPERS' Member Systems advice on what pension plans should do to take stock of their funds' advisory relationships.

During the webinar, held Sept. 15, a moderator used a question-and-answer format allowing the panelists to identify some of the differences between non-discretionary and discretionary advisory models.

Click here to view a recording of the webinar. Those wanting to watch the video will be required to register for access.

During the session, the panel:

• Outlined some decision point considerations for plan trustees.
• Illustrated some of the more nuanced differences between the services.
• Revealed what the economic and market upheaval brought by the novel coronavirus pandemic has taught.
• Took audience questions relating to advisory relationships and the markets in general.

Mark Weir, from Maples Group, moderated the webinar. The expert panelists were Jim Link, from PFM; Chris McGoldrick, from PNC; and Robert Longfield, from CBIZ.

Future Webinars

TEXPERS is hosting educational webinars to help in the professional development of its Member Systems' trustees and administrators. Additional webinars are being planned.

The next webinar, Direct Lending – The Benefits of Scale and Differentiated Sourcing, will be held at 10 a.m. CDT on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020.

Synopsis: Since the Global Financial Crisis, investors globally continue in their search for yield, shifting capital from public to private markets, with private debt emerging as an attractive asset class for institutional investors seeking an illiquidity yield premium.

With the private debt market currently estimated to be ~$850 billion and likely to grow, in this webinar, Michael Patterson, Governing Partner and Portfolio Manager of Direct Lending Strategies at HPS Partners, will share insights on how best to extract attractive risk-adjusted returns through differentiated sourcing capabilities.

Topics will include:

• Non-sponsor lending: not just sourcing, it’s about execution.
• Utilizing scale as a competitive advantage.
• Opportunities to find excess returns persist at the larger end of the lending market.

Click here to register.

For an up to date listing of webinars, click here to visit TEXPERS Online Education link on the association’s website.

Earn Continuing Education Credits

New and Continuing pension system trustees and administrators who attended live webinars can earn one credit hour to satisfy state-mandated Continuing Education. To earn the credit, attendees are required to sit through the entire presentation, participate in polling questions during the session, and answer a survey emailed to attendees after the webinar. Those who do not sit through the webinar are unable to earn credit.

For additional information, email texpers@texpers.org or visit our website. Also, be sure to follow TEXPERS on Facebook and Twitter.

Janus Henderson Presents Educational Webinar

The Session is Part of a New Series of Online Learning Aimed at 

Pension Fund Trustees and Admins

Screen capture of Sept. 9, 2020, webinar hosted by TEXPERS and presented by Janus Henderson Investors.

TEXPERS STAFF REPORT

The Texas Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems and hosted an online discussion on the often overlooked risk and return benefits of adding Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) to a broader real estate portfolio.

The educational webinar was present by Janus Henderson Investors on Wednesday, Sept. 9.

> ON DEMAND: Click to watch a recording.

Danny Greenberger, portfolio manager of Global Property Equities, and Guy Barnard, co-head and portfolio manager of Global Property Equities, at Janus Henderson lead the educational session. 

Over the last decade, institutional investors have turned to a range of private investments – equity, debt and real estate – in search of higher returns, said Geenberger and Barnard. However, they added, that while private equities and debt have outperformed their listed counterparts for the past 20 years, the same cannot be said in real estate. According to their presentation, many public plans are significantly underweight Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) relative to the size of the asset class.

During the webinar, Janus Henderson's Global Real Estate Team highlighted the benefits of an allocation to REITs, including:

• The ability to access "non-core" property types – such as self-storage, cell towers, data centers, single tenant net lease and manufactured housing – with long-term cash flow growth opportunities;
• The ability to be more nimble when shorter-term market opportunities arise;
• Daily liquidity

As an Accredited Sponsor of the Pension Review Board of Texas, TEXPERS provided 1 credit hour of Continuing Education credits to pension plan trustees and administrators who attended the live webinar, participated in polling questions, and entered a code provided at the end of the webinar in a post-event survey.

Although a recording of the webinar is available for on-demand viewing through TEXPERS' GoToWebinar platform, only those who sat through the live session are eligible to earn the training credit. 

The webinar is part of a series of educational sessions meant to assist public pension system trustees and administrators earn state-mandated training hours. TEXPERS established the educational series in place of in-person programming that was to take place during the association's Annual Conference and Summer Educational Forum, which were canceled this year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. 

TEXPERS hosted a webinar in May and another in July as part of the educational series. Additional webinars are scheduled and association staff are organizing more sessions.

Upcoming Online Learning

Webinar | Taking Stock of Your Advisory Relationship: Outsource CIO, Consultants, and the Market
Presented by PFM LLC, PNC Capital Advisors, & CBIZ Inc.
10 a.m. CST on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020
Qualifies for 1 credit hour for Basic or Advanced Trustee Training in Investments.

Webinar | Direct Lending - The Benefits of Scale and Differentiated Sourcing
Presented by HPS Investment Partners
10 a.m. CST on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020
Qualifies for 1 credit hour for Basic or Advanced Trustee Training in Investments.

Mandated Training Hours

Texas law requires the Pension Review Board to establish a Minimum Educational Training Program for trustees and system administrators of state and local public retirement systems. The PRB's Minimum Educational Training requirements include core and non-core topic areas. New trustees and administrators must earn a minimum of 7 hours of training within their first year of service. Continuing trustees and administrators must receive a minimum of 4 hours of training every two years after their first year of service. 

TEXPERS is offering credit training hours for core and non-core topics. New trustees and administrators needing additional first-year training may do so online through the PRB's website.

>ADDITIONAL TRAINING: Pension Review Board MET Info

Webinar Replays

In May, TEXPERS hosted Controlled Acceleration: Using Derivatives to Manage Pension Plan Risk, Return & Liquidity. Sponsored by TEXPERS Consultant Member River and Mercantile, the webinar is accessible through the association's blog.

>WEBINAR REPLAY: Controlled Acceleration

In July, TEXPERS hosted COVID-19: Impact on a Pension Plan's Liquidity. Also sponsored by TEXPERS Consultant Member River and Mercantile, a replay of the webinar is accessible through the association's blog.

>WEBINAR REPLAY: Impact of COVID-19 on Liquidity

TEXPERS building online learning series

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

By ALLEN JONES/TEXPERS Communications Manager

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the respiratory illness that causes COVID-19, has adversely impacted TEXPERS' ability to host its Annual Conference and Educational Forum this year. However, the association's staff is lining up online events offering members the ability to develop their professional skills and earn credit for their state-mandated training hours.

TEXPERS' board of directors announced in June that the association canceled its Annual Conference in San Antonio due to social distancing restrictions. The board and staff recognized that although it could not hold an in-person event, association members still need to fulfill state-mandated training. The staff has developed a series of online seminars as a practical and free alternative for system member trustees and administrators to continue their education.

As an Accredited Sponsor of the Pension Review Board of Texas, TEXPERS is providing credit hours of training to pension plan trustees and administrators. Several sessions formerly to be held during the Annual Conference have been reconfigured for online presentations that allow first-year and continuing trustees and administrators to earn credit hours.

New and Continuing Trustees and Administrators may earn 1 credit hour per designated webinar. Each online session is lead by pension or investment industry experts. 

To earn a credit hour, attendees are required to sit through an entire presentation, participate in polling questions during the session, and answer a survey after the webinar. A code will appear on the screen after each webinar and attendees will need to provide it in the survey as proof that they sat through the session to the end.

Online sessions took place in May and July, and three more are coming up in September. The association staff is busy putting together additional educational programming through November.

Upcoming Online Learning

Webinar | Real Estate - Benefits of Combining Public and Private Allocations 
Presented by Janus Henderson Investors
10 a.m. CST on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020
Qualifies for 1 credit hour for Basic or Advanced Trustee Training in Investments.

Webinar | Taking Stock of Your Advisory Relationship: Outsource CIO, Consultants, and the Market
Presented by PFM LLC, PNC Capital Advisors, & CBIZ Inc.
10 a.m. CST on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020
Qualifies for 1 credit hour for Basic or Advanced Trustee Training in Investments.

Webinar | (Topic to be Determined)
Presented by HPS Investment Partners
10 a.m. CST on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020
Qualifies for 1 credit hour for Basic or Advanced Trustee Training in Investments.

Registration Information

Active links above mean a webinar is open for registration. TEXPERS will email registration details for future webinars to system members as they become available. Also, the association's website, blog, and social media pages will be updated with links to sign up for each online session.

Mandated Training Hours

Texas law requires the Pension Review Board to establish a Minimum Educational Training Program for trustees and system administrators of state and local public retirement systems. The PRB's Minimum Educational Training requirements include core and non-core topic areas. New trustees and administrators must earn a minimum of 7 hours of training within their first year of service. Continuing trustees and administrators must receive a minimum of 4 hours of training every two years after their first year of service. 

TEXPERS is offering credit training hours for core and non-core topics. New trustees and administrators needing additional first-year training may do so online through the PRB's website.

>ADDITIONAL TRAINING: Pension Review Board MET Info

Webinar Replays

In May, TEXPERS hosted Controlled Acceleration: Using Derivatives to Manage Pension Plan Risk, Return & Liquidity. Sponsored by TEXPERS Consultant Member River and Mercantile, the webinar is accessible through the association's blog.

>WEBINAR REPLAY: Controlled Acceleration

In July, TEXPERS hosted COVID-19: Impact on a Pension Plan's Liquidity. Also sponsored by TEXPERS Consultant Member River and Mercantile, a replay of the webinar is accessible through the association's blog.

>WEBINAR REPLAY: Impact of COVID-19 on Liquidity

Pension system trustees and administrators cannot receive credit hours for watching the replays. The replays are for on-demand professional development purposes only.

Membership Matters

TEXPERS has spent three decades providing high-quality training for its members, expanding awareness of public pension issues, and advocating for the promised benefits of public employees. TEXPERS' staff and board members are proud to offer trustees and administrators new ways to build their pension knowledge, which make its members more valuable to their funds and stakeholders.

Not a member of TEXPERS? Any Texas public employee retirement system and employee group or association is eligible for a TEXPERS membership immediately. Consultants, actuaries and vendors also are welcome to join at any time, however those applications will require approvals. For TEXPERS' Associate Memberships, there are a limited number of openings available. Once an application has been approved and an opening has become available, a TEXPERS staff member will follow up.

> JOIN TEXPERS: Membership information

 About the Author:

New report sheds light on retirement security and financial decision making

Photo: Karolina Grabowska from Pexels.

TEXPERS STAFF REPORT

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a new report, Retirement Security and Financial Decision Making, that finds a growing number of retirees are not experiencing the expected gradual reduction in spending after they retire.

The report, published by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, finds that nearly half of Americans who retired between 1992 and 2014 were unable to keep the same spending level for five years following retirement. The Bureau’s findings indicate that certain financial decisions may enhance or diminish retirees’ ability to maintain the same level of spending, according to an email from NIRS announcing the webinar. For example, for homeowners, entering retirement without mortgage debt, for those with a pension, choosing a monthly annuity rather than in a lump-sum payout, are positively associated with retirees’ ability to maintain the same spending level for five years.

The study helps identify ways to protect retirees from overspending their savings in early retirement.

> REPORT:  Access a copy of the research brief.

Key Findings

• The study found that about half of people who retired between 1992 and 2014 had income, savings, and/or non-housing assets to maintain the same spending level for five consecutive years after retiring.  
• Bureau found that the ability to maintain the same spending level in the first five years in retirement was associated with large spending cuts in later years. 

The Consumer Protection Bureau is a federal agency responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector.

Investment industry association to host virtual conversation with NCPER’s Hank Kim

STAFF REPORT

TEXPERS investments industry members might want to check out an upcoming webinar providing insights on the impact of COVID-19 on investment strategies and allocations as well as how diverse managers fit into it.

Industry Insights: A Virtual Conversation is hosted by the National Association of Investment Companies as part of the group’s NAIC Insights Series. Hank Kim, executive director and counsel at the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems will lead the live streaming event set for 1 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, Aug. 4. 

As executive director of NCPERS, Kim oversees the operations of the largest public pension trade association in the U.S. During the live stream, Kim will discuss the association’s role in the public pension industry; its advocacy, research, and education initiatives; as well as provide insight for investors and general partners.

> REGISTRATION: RSVP for the online event

Individuals who register for the free program will receive an email in advance of the event with a link to view the YouTube live stream. The president and CEO of NAIC Robert “Bob” L. Greene, is hosting the event. The association is a professional network of diverse-owned private equity firms and hedge funds. The association’s NAIC Insights Series gathers the industry’s thought leaders through virtual programming to share their perspectives on market news and trends, its impact on diverse-owned firms, and other industry topics. 

 

NIRS webinar focuses on idiosyncratic risks that drive returns

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By TEXPERS STAFF

Nuveen, an Associate Member of TEXPERS, is taking part in a webinar with our friends at the National Institute on Retirement Security at 3 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 28.

The webinar, Factors First: A Risk-based Approach to Harnessing Alternative Sources of Income, focuses on how institutional investors such as pension funds can capitalize on the yield of alternatives by focusing on the idiosyncratic risks that drive returns.

There is no charge to register for the informational webinar.

> REGISTER: Click here to sign up for the free webinar.

NIRS' synopsis of the webinar:

During the webinar, you will hear how investors can stitch together multi-asset portfolios in an efficient and coherent fashion. The session also will cover why a risk factor-based approach works well for alternative asset classes; how to capitalize on the yield and diversification benefits of alternatives; and how institutional investors can leverage the factor-based approach for multi-asset portfolio construction.

Speakers include:

• Dan Doonan, Executive Director, National Institute on Retirement Security

• Nathan Shetty, Head of Multi-Asset Portfolio Management, Nuveen

The National Institute on Retirement Security is a nonprofit retirement security research and education organization. To see what other webinars NIRS has to offer, see a list of scheduled sessions and replays of past webinars on the organization's website.

WEBINAR REPLAY | COVID-19: Impact on a Pension Plan’s Liquidity

By TEXPERS Staff

On Wednesday, May 20, the Texas Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems hosted a webinar focused on the importance of pension plan liquidity management in response to COVID-19. Presented by TEXPERS Consultant Member River & Mercantile, the webinar was free to TEXPERS' System Members. The presentation is now available to replay. > ACCESS THE WEBINAR REPLAY: Click to watch. The Details The COVID-19 pandemic is materially affecting the global economy and investment markets. As a result, your fund's liquidity profile may change, including: Less income from investment portfolio Potential increase in benefit payments Increased DROP elections Liquidity is the "third-leg" of pension management alongside investments and liabilities. Understanding your plan's liquidity profile is critical as you make investment decisions.

During the webinar, you'll hear from:

Ross Clary [Moderator] Senior Advisor River & Mercantile

Thomas J. Cassara [Panelist] Managing Director River & Mercantile

Michael S. Clark [Panelist] Managing Director & Consulting Actuary River & Mercantile

Presenting Sponsor: