05/09/2020
Despite these difficult times, NYSTRS continues to fulfill our mission of providing members with a secure pension, and we continue to make pension payments on time and in full.
“NYSTRS remains one of the strongest and best-funded public retirement systems in the nation,” said David P. Keefe, a retired teacher and president of the NYSTRS Board of Trustees. “The System has distributed earned retirement benefits on time and without fail throughout its nearly 100-year history and members should be confident this will continue.”
The NYSTRS 10-member Board of Trustees and the System’s investment professionals work together to protect the long-term security of the retirement fund using advanced funding and managing a diversified portfolio designed to weather economic storms.
“It is exactly this long-term investment strategy that helps us tolerate the volatility in the financial markets we are currently experiencing,” said NYSTRS Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer Thomas K. Lee.
Advanced funding means the System invests employer and member contributions throughout a member’s working career, steadily accumulating the assets necessary to provide a fully funded benefit in retirement. By pooling these contributions, NYSTRS can achieve economies of scale no individual investor could duplicate.
In addition, the System’s investment portfolios are broadly diversified both among and within asset classes. This makes the System well-positioned to absorb losses caused by downturns in the financial markets as well as realize gains as the economy rebounds.
Your NYSTRS pension is a defined benefit pension that members receive for life. Public pension benefits are also guaranteed by the New York State Constitution and may not be reduced.