As always, I hope this update finds all of our ATRS members and their families safe and healthy during the current public health crisis. Due to COVID-19, the ATRS office remains closed to the public until further notice. However, you may visit the ATRS building lobby to drop-off paperwork. The health and well-being of our members and employees is of the utmost importance. Therefore, we ask that you continue to call or email the ATRS counselors to schedule telephone sessions.
ATRS Investments
I want to emphasize to all our members that your ATRS benefits are secure. ATRS is a long-term investor and the ATRS Board has structured a well-diversified investment portfolio with the ability to withstand market volatility. The ATRS Board remains committed to managing the System’s assets in a prudent manner that will ensure the viability of your pension. The ATRS Board makes decisions in terms of decades, not days, weeks, or months.
Global stock markets continue to experience significant volatility as concerns over COVID-19 persist. Due to this volatility, the current estimated investment rate of return for the ATRS fiscal year ending June 30, 2020 is -1.4%. The good news is that the markets have continued to make gains since July 1st. ATRS assets have gained over $1 billion in the past four months. This represents a 6.3% improvement since July 1st. The primary mission of ATRS is to remain actuarially sound and pay member benefits by investing ATRS assets in a manner to earn the 7.5% actuarial assumed rate of return over a long-term horizon.
As you may be aware ATRS, along with many other investors, suffered significant losses from its investment in the Allianz Structured Alpha Funds. In July, in order to recover these losses, ATRS filed the first lawsuit alleging claims for breaches of fiduciary duty and contract as well as negligence against several Allianz entities. The lawsuit alleges that ATRS suffered these losses because Allianz improperly managed the Structured Alpha Funds in a manner contrary to its obligations to ATRS.
Following ATRS’s lead, several other public pension funds and institutional investors have filed similar actions against Allianz. ATRS member benefit payments have not been impacted, and ATRS is committed to holding Allianz accountable, and will vigorously pursue these highly meritorious claims. The lawsuit is in its preliminary stages, and we will update the membership on important developments as the litigation proceeds.
New ATRS ID
Along with the uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an increased number of scams and frauds being perpetrated against American citizens. With all the fraudulent activities occurring, we accelerated our efforts to move away from using any part of your SSN to identify you. In the future, when you call or interact with ATRS you will be asked to supply your new ATRS ID.
You should have received your annual statement or T-DROP statement for this year. Your new ATRS ID number is located in the top right-hand corner of your statement. It will be a six-digit number that uniquely identifies you in the ATRS system. This replaces the practice of using the last four digits of your social security number on correspondence.
Retirements This Year
Given the concerns around COVID-19 and in-person instruction, I continue to receive inquiries from reporters as to how many K-12 teachers have retired this year. There are about 35,000 K-12 teachers in Arkansas. Each year, around 1,300 of these teachers retire. Compared to August of 2019, there was an increase of about 50 K-12 teacher retirements in August 2020. However, total annual retirements have been trending downward for the past five years. This year is no exception. By this time in calendar year 2019 ATRS had 1,208 K-12 teacher retirements for the year. This year there have been 1,197 K-12 teacher retirements so far. I would like to express my appreciation for all of our Arkansas educators who continue to serve our communities and children, even in the midst of a pandemic.
Stay in Touch with ATRS and View YOUR Account Information
The ATRS website allows members to have direct access to specific member account information. Now, approximately 23,100 members have direct account access to individualized account information. Here is the link to the instructions to sign up: www.artrs.gov/registration.
You can also sign up to obtain these executive director updates through your private email address. Updates are made throughout the year such as at retirement season and other times when information needs to be shared. Now, over 25,200 people have signed up to receive this executive director update by direct email delivery. It is always a great pleasure for ATRS staff to learn of more ways to provide information to ATRS members, employers, beneficiaries, government officials, and the public. The ATRS Board is committed to providing a system that is member friendly and transparent. Remember that ATRS is here to serve you.
Best regards,
Clint Rhoden
Executive Director ATRS
Office: (501) 588-4367
Mobile: (501) 291-1623
clintr@artrs.gov