SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 4, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With the exception of Taft-Hartley Health and Welfare Funds, institutional assets tracked by the Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service® (Wilshire TUCS®), saw double digit returns during 2012 making it the third year in the last four to reach that performance level. Wilshire TUCS, a cooperative effort between Wilshire Analytics, the investment technology unit of Wilshire Associates Incorporated (Wilshire®), and custodial organizations, it is considered the most widely accepted benchmark for the performance and allocation of institutional assets and includes nearly 1,570 plans representing in excess of $2.75 trillion in assets.
"In a quarter when the Wilshire 5000 Total Market IndexSM was up 0.10 percent and the Barclays U.S. Aggregate was up 0.21 percent, it was impressive to see median returns for the fourth quarter ranging from a low of 0.39 percent for Taft Harley Health and Welfare Funds to 2.45 percent for Public Funds with assets greater than $5 billion," stated Robert J. Waid, managing director, Wilshire Associates. "The median quarterly return for all plans was 1.70 percent," he added.
"All Plans with assets greater than $5 billion was the top performing category with a median 2012 return of 13.45 percent. All plan types had a median return of 12.38 percent making this the fourth year in a row of positive median returns," Waid said. "Three of those four were double digit gains. Nine out of the last ten years all plan types had positive returns; six of them double digits, for an annualized ten-year return similar to most actuarial plan targets of 7.55 percent. Leading the way, Foundations and Endowments with assets greater than $500 million had the best 10-year median return at 8.22 percent."
A graph accompanying this release is available at http://media.globenewswire.com/cache/31/file/17936.pdf
As the Public Funds chart below shows, large plans (plan assets greater than $1 billion) and mega plans (plan assets greater than $5 billion) out-performed small plans -- not only for the quarter but also for the one- and ten-year periods. Larger plans also had larger median exposures to international equity and alternatives.
|
Wilshire TUCS Public Funds |
Small Plans | Large Plans | Mega Plans |
| Median Plan Returns | |||
| 2012 Q4 | 1.71% | 2.23% | 2.45% |
| 2012 Year | 12.47% | 13.25% | 13.43% |
| 10-Year | 6.95% | 7.96% | 7.96% |
| Median Allocations | |||
| Int'l Equity | 10.6% | 17.1% | 22.3% |
| Alt. Investments | 0.0% | 9.2% | 9.6% |
About Wilshire Associates
Wilshire Associates, a leading global, independent investment consulting and services firm, provides consulting services, analytics solutions and customized investment products to plan sponsors, investment managers and financial intermediaries. Its business units include, Wilshire Analytics, Wilshire Consulting, Wilshire Funds Management and Wilshire Private Markets.
The firm was founded in 1972, providing revolutionary technology and acting as an early innovator in the application of investment analytics and research to investment managers in the institutional marketplace. Wilshire also is credited with helping to develop the field of quantitative investment analysis that uses mathematical tools to analyze market risks. All other business units evolved from Wilshire's strong analytics foundation. Wilshire developed the Wilshire 5000 Total Market IndexSM and became an early innovator in creating the industry's integrated asset/liability analysis/simulation models as well as the industry's practical models in risk budgeting through beta and active risk analysis. Wilshire has grown to a firm of more than 300 employees serving the investment needs of institutional clients around the world.
Based in Santa Monica, California, Wilshire provides services to clients in more than 20 countries representing more than 500 organizations with assets totaling approximately US $7 trillion.* With ten offices on four continents, Wilshire Associates and its affiliates are dedicated to providing clients with the highest quality counsel, products and services. Wilshire®, Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service® and Wilshire TUCS® are registered service marks of Wilshire Associates Incorporated. Wilshire 5000 Total Market IndexSM is a service mark of Wilshire Associates Incorporated. Please visit http://www.wilshire.com/.
*Assets are as of December 31, 2011, based on published data in the December 24, 2012 issue of Pensions and Investments.
