Current Investment Market Conditions
Members’ Guarantee of Pension Benefits
v
 
We understand the
concerns the current investment market conditions may cause our members.
In order to reassure members that the retirement benefits you have
earned are not threatened by downturns in the investment markets, our
legal counsel has prepared the accompanying statement explaining the
guarantee of your benefits. In this statement, Mr. Klausner explains
the constitutional provisions of Louisiana law guaranteeing your
benefits, along with an explanation of the actuarial funding provisions
of law enacted to ensure that your benefit is always protected.
We are fortunate
that our pension fund is a defined benefit plan offering a lifetime
benefit based on a formula using years of service, age and final average
salary to determine the amount of the benefit. Typically, vested members
draw many times more in retirement benefits than contributions they have
paid into the Fund. While we rely on investment earnings for overall
funding of the system, Louisiana law also provides other sources of
income for the Fund. In addition, shortfalls in funding created by
fluctuations in investment markets are insured by the employer
contributions to the Fund mandated by law. Many people employed in
business and industries do not enjoy the type of guaranteed benefit in
retirement that our members enjoy, and must rely on savings and
investment earnings in a defined contribution plan that does not provide
assurance of a lifetime benefit.
In order to provide
the great level of benefits your pension fund provides for members, and
to maintain required employer contribution rates at levels that are
affordable for our sheriffs, it is necessary that we use the investment
markets and assume a level of market risk. Our highly diversified
investment portfolio is designed to help us attain our targeted funding
levels and withstand market fluctuations over time. It is important
that we maintain a long-term investment outlook, understanding that we
will enjoy favorable and unfavorable market conditions over time.
In times of
unfavorable market conditions it is critical that we stay the course, as
recommended by our highly professional consultants, in order to stay
positioned to take advantage of recoveries and rebounds that will come
from a return to more favorable market conditions. Again, our pension
fund is designed to withstand the fluctuations of the investment markets
over the long-term, and take advantage of market opportunities during
favorable markets.
Our goal is to work
hard to provide protection and assurances for our active members so you
can do the dedicated work you do without concerns over your retirement,
and for retirees to enjoy the benefits you have earned in retirement.
Please be assured that our Board of Trustees and staff are very
dedicated to that commitment.
For further information, please refer to the
following statement from our legal counsel. As always, please call us
if we can be of assistance at any time.
Click here to view legal statement
|