Teachers Retirement System of Georgia (TRS) has a long-standing reputation for its conservative approach to pension management. Since inception, TRS has consistently prioritized the preservation of member benefits and the long-term sustainability of the retirement plan. Our commitment to prudent investment strategies, disciplined risk management, and sound governance has enabled us to successfully administer pension benefits for generations of Georgia's educators.
Through a combination of strategic improvements, strong investment returns, and maintaining actuarially sound contributions, TRS’s goal is to be at or near 100% fully funded by the year 2044. This marks a substantial improvement from earlier projections, demonstrating the effectiveness of our ongoing efforts to ensure the long-term fiscal soundness of the retirement plan for Georgia's educators. Efforts in recent years to strengthen the plan’s financial health, including adjustments in investment strategies and actuarial assumptions, have contributed to this positive outlook.
Sustainability Changes
Over the years, TRS has taken key actions to enhance the pension fund’s sustainability. One such action involved tightening the amortization period of the plan’s unfunded actuarial accrued liability (UAAL) to ensure it would ultimately be paid off. The first change occurred in fiscal year 2014 with moving from an open, or rolling, amortization schedule to a 30-year closed UAAL amortization schedule. Then in fiscal year 2022, the UAAL amortization period was further reduced to 23 years, with future years to be amortized over 25 years. This was accomplished without an increase to the fund’s UAAL by utilizing excess investment earnings.
TRS has also made significant adjustments to its assumed annual rate of return on investments, lowering it from 7.5% to 7.25% in fiscal year 2019 and further lowering it to 6.9% in fiscal year 2022 to better align with future financial market expectations. Adopting a lower rate of return assumption strengthens the plan’s financial sustainability by reducing the risk of future earnings shortfalls.
TRS has made a couple of recent shifts in investment strategy. In fiscal year 2021, TRS diversified its investment portfolio by adding an alternative investments asset class, thereby expanding its position in a variety of markets. In fiscal year 2024, the fund divested from China-based equities in order to mitigate potential risks.
Periodically, TRS actuaries conduct an experience study to review and evaluate the fund’s actuarial assumptions in light of actual experience over the preceding 5-year period. An experience study is currently underway to ensure that the actuarial assumptions remain aligned with the TRS’s evolving needs.
Highlights
One of the highlights of the past two years was TRS of Georgia’s outstanding investment performance, which outpaced all other state pension plans in the nation with a 14.5% return for fiscal year 2024 and 11.9% in fiscal year 2023. Pensions & Investments’ tool, The Pension Fund Return Tracker, has TRS at the top of the list for both fiscal years 2024 and 2023. These impressive investment results, combined with the ongoing strategic improvements, position TRS to continue providing secure retirements well into the future for Georgia’s educators.
Key indicators used to understand the health of a pension plan include the funded ratio, the funding period, and the UAAL. In a nutshell, the higher the funded ratio, the healthier the pension fund. Over the next five years, TRS is currently projected to go from 78.2% funded to 84.3%. The funding period is the estimated time it will take to pay off the plan’s liability. In the next five years, TRS’s funding period will go from 20 years to 15 years. The UAAL represents the amount of a pension fund’s liabilities in excess of its assets. The smaller the UAAL, the better off the pension fund is financially. In the next 5 years, the TRS UAAL is projected to decrease from $27.7 billion to $23.3 billion. All of these key indicators are moving in the right direction for TRS and demonstrate the financial soundness of the plan.
The commitment to fiscal responsibility and thoughtful investment management ensures that the TRS pension fund is on a solid path toward long-term health, benefiting both current retirees and future generations of Georgia’s educators.