CalSTRS Will Consider Lowering Discount Rate

Trustees for the California State Teachers’ Retirement System next month will discuss whether to lower the pension fund’s assumed rate of return from 7.5 percent to 7.25 percent.

CalSTRS’ current rate is right at the nationwide median; but many public plans — including CalPERS — are continuing to lower their assumptions.

More from Reuters:

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System will consider lowering its expected return rate to 7.25 percent from 7.5 percent, based on economic factors and improvements to beneficiaries’ life expectancies.

CalSTRS Board is scheduled to consider the move during its February meeting. The recommendation was published late on Wednesday on the public pension fund’s website.

The changes are based on new lower assumptions for price inflation and general wage growth, which reduced the probability that CalSTRS would achieve its 7.5 percent return to 50 percent over the long-term, according to the report.

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CalSTRS must also take into account improvements in beneficiaries’ life expectancies, the report noted.

Under the proposed changes, CalSTRS’s funding ratio would drop to 63.9 percent from 67.2 percent, and contribution rates would rise.

CalSTRS estimates that under a 7.25 percent expected return, the state contribution rate would increase by 0.5 percent of payroll for each of the next five years. Currently, the state contribution rate is 8.8 percent of payroll.