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Investing February 13, 2008
Most Institutional Investors End 07 on a Negative Note
February 13, 2008 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Institutional
investors generally saw their portfolios lose ground in the
last quarter of 2007, according to the Wilshire Trust
Universe Comparison Service (Wilshire TUCS).
Reported by Rebecca Moore
According to a Wilshire news release, foundations and endowments and non-profits with assets greater than $1 billion were the exceptions, eking out gains of less than two tenths of apercent. The median performance of all master trusts for the year ended December 31, 2007, was 7.60%, with a fourth quarter return of -0.5 8%.
The median performance of corporate pension plans was -0.73% for the quarter and 7.66% for the year, while public pension funds’ median performance was -0.71% for the quarter and 7.43% for the year, according to the TUCS data. The fourth quarter median performance for foundations and endowments was -0.56% and 9.03% for the year.
Taft Hartley funds’ median performance was -0.46% for the quarter and 6.99% for the year, while non-profits saw a median performance of -0.51% in Q407 and 8.19% for all of 2007.
The median asset allocation for all master trusts was 59.83% Equities, 26.59% Bonds, and 2.25% Cash as of the end of 2007. Corporate funds generally held 62.52% of assets in Equities, 28.2% in Bonds, and 2.35% in Cash.
Public funds and foundations and endowments had similar distributions of assets, but public funds held about 0.20% in Real Estate. Taft Hartley funds held 55.35% in Equities, 30.58% in Bonds, 2.18% in Cash, and 5.59% in Real Estate.
TUCS includes more than 1,400 plans representing $3.12 trillion in assets.