By: Russ Kamp, Managing Director, Ryan ALM, Inc.

Last week we reported on the Milliman Corporate Pension Funding Index report. Yesterday, Milliman released the results for their Public Pension Funding Index (PPFI), which consists of the nation’s 100 largest public defined benefit pension plans.

Unfortunately, the aggregate funded ratio deteriorated from September’s 73.2% to 71.4% as of October 31. The 100 plans experienced a decline of roughly -1.9% during the month marking the third consecutive negative month for the index. The decline in asset values totaled about $89 billion giving the 100 plans a market value of about $4.4 trillion. Becky Sielman, co-author of the PPFI, reported that  “At the end of October, only 12 of the plans were more than 90% funded, while 26 were below the 60% funding mark.”

According to Becky, the last 12 months have seen six months with positive performance and six months with market declines. Once again highlighting the fact that pension America just rides the asset allocation rollercoaster up and down. It is time to get off that ride!