Chart: Which Pension Funds Disclose Net-of-Fee Investment Performance?

Pew recently released a report on ways to improve transparency at state pension funds.

The report called for all pension funds to report their investment performance both gross of fees and net of fees – something which many, but not all, funds do.

See the map above for a breakdown of which state pensions report their performance net of fees.

From the report:

Clear information that accounts for the costs of managing assets is needed to fully understand investment performance. Still, more than one-third of plans examined do not disclose detailed returns minus the fees paid to managers, or “net of fees.” For 10-year results, 27 of 73 plans studied, or 37 percent, reported returns “gross of fees”—without deducting manager fees.

Reporting performance both gross and net of fees gives stakeholders information on both the cost and bottom-line results of pension funds’ investment strategies. A direct comparison of returns on a net and gross basis is a clear and easy method for examining the impact of fees on fund performance.

Read the full report here.