By Associated Press
Published: Sun, October 05, 2008 - 11:59 am
Last Updated: Sun, October 05, 2008 - 12:03 pm
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Alabama is taking a hit from theShort URL: http://wkrg.com/a/19708/
nation's financial crisis. The crisis has lowered the value of
state pension fund, reduced earnings in a plan to send students to
college and eaten up more than $100 million of a state budget that
pays for prisons, state troopers and Medicaid.
But state officials says the long-term financial outlook of
these government operations is still sound. The most obvious impact
could be to the Retirement System of Alabama.
The RSA pension fund's values are down 8 percent to 12 percent
because of the turmoil on Wall Street. The pension funds total
about $32 billion.
But RSA chief David Bronner says the Alabama fund is in better
shape than most because of a conservative and diversified
investment plan.
RSA has invested in or owns golf courses across Alabama,
newspapers and broadcast stations and even a large New York City
office building.
Bronner says the different investments help in a huge way.
He also says the losses this year follow the RSA's gains of
about 17 percent the previous year.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Economic Indicators Up More Than Expected in April
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My own retirement plan is down 27% this year. RSA losing 12% sounds bad, but given the last two months of turmoil, that’s actually pretty good. In a year or two they’ll make that money back and then some. Long term investing is the best approach, and that’s how RSA is handling the fund. Buy a stock when it’s cheap.