1993		2013
A. Accrued liability		$75.9B		$375.0B
B. Actual value of assets		$75.9B		$261.6B
C. Value of assets based on 7.79% return		$75.9B		$261.6B
D. Actual funded status (B ÷ A)		100%		69.8%
E. Funded status based on 7.79% return (C ÷ A)		100%		69.8%

Detailed spreadsheet (opens in new window).

Choose fixed return (%):

This tool displays the actual funded status of the CalPERS PERF fund during the twenty-year period of 1993 to 2013. It compares the actual funded status to what it would have been had investments yielded a fixed return in each of those twenty years.

In 1993 the funded status was 100%, but by 2013 it had dropped to 69.8%, a shortfall of $103.4B. The shortfall is often blamed on investment return being less than hoped for. This tool allows you to explore if this is actually true or not.

Select a value for the fixed return using the form above. Hover your mouse cursor over the plots to see numerical values. Here are some example returns you might want to try:

• 7.79% produces a final result equal to the actual funded status (69.8% in 2013). This shows that the actual investment results were equivalent to a fixed return of 7.79%.
• 9.52% produces a final result of full funding (99.9% in 2013). This shows that investments would have had to earn a fixed return of 9.52% to overcome the shortfall that occurred over the twenty years.
• 7.5% produces a final result worse than the actual funded status (65.6% versus 69.8% in 2013). Thus investments did better over the twenty years than the current assumption of 7.5%.