To: The New Jersey State Investment Council

Stop giving public pension money to Wall Street hedge funds now.

Reducing the investment in high-priced hedge funds and investing more prudently could save New Jersey taxpayers $20 billion over the next 30 years without making a single change to the pensions of the workers.

Public Worker pension funds shouldn't be a piggy bank for Wall Street financiers. Stop the overuse of high-priced hedge funds now.

Why is this important?

Public worker pension funds shouldn't be a piggy bank for Wall Street financiers. But that’s exactly what they’ve become here in New Jersey.
Under Governor Chris Christie, fees forked over to Wall Street money managers have skyrocketed. His appointees over at the New Jersey State Investment Council (SIC) have particularly helped them profit. Through high-priced hedge funds and alternative investments, the SIC has handed Wall Street well over a BILLION dollars to manage less than one-third of the state’s pension funds. Even worse is that taxpayers are paying these outrageous fees to get nearly the same exact returns as if we’d never placed pensions in these hedge fund managers’ hands.

In 2015 alone, the New Jersey State Investment Council paid $728 million in fees and bonuses to Wall Street firms to manage less than a third of pension investments. The year before, Wall Street raked in $600 million in fees and bonuses.

That’s $1.3 billion of the hard-earned retirement of nearly 800,000 active and retired public employees in New Jersey being doled out to Wall Street in just two years.

Reducing New Jersey’s investment in these pricey funds and spending more prudently could save taxpayers $20 billion over the next 30 years. That will not only make pension plans healthier, but also save the taxpayers billions of dollars in contributions to the plans.

On Wednesday, May 25th, the SIC will vote on how to allocate the state’s pension funds for the next year.

Send the SIC a message: Public worker pension funds shouldn't be a piggy bank for Wall Street financiers. Stop giving pension money to Wall Street hedge funds now.