Highlights

April 2013 Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)

The 2013 COLA was approved by the Board of Retirement at the February Board meeting.  Retirees and beneficiaries see the COLA change in their April benefit, which is paid on May 1.  Members who retired under General Plan 2 are ineligible for the COLA.

The COLA is calculated based on changes in the previous year's Annual Average Consumer Price Index for the Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County area, rounded to the nearest ½ percent.  The 2013 COLA is a 2.0% increase in benefit allowances, but those with an initial retirement date of April 1, 1988 or prior may be supplemented from an Accumulated Carry-Over ("COLA bank") for a total increase of up to 3%.

The 2013 COLA amounts are:

New General Investment Consultant

The Board of Retirement selected a new General Investment Consultant on February 8, 2012.  Through an RFP process that began last summer, the Board evaluated the qualifications and philosophies of ten candidate firms and selected Meketa Investment Group to act as its General Consultant.  Meketa replaces Pension Consulting Alliance which had acted in this capacity since 1991.

Meketa serves as an independent investment fiduciary and will assist the Board of Retirement in setting and achieving investment objectives for SBCERS’ $2Billion trust fund.  The consultant provides expert analysis and advice in setting its asset allocation, selecting and evaluating investment managers, and monitoring the results of our investment program.  Meketa was established in 1974 and currently serves 68 full service institutional clients with aggregate assets of approximately $83 billion.  Among its public institutional clients are CalPERS, Arizona State Retirement System, and San Jose Federated City Employees’ Retirement System. 

SBCERS retains separate discretionary consultants for its Private Equity (Hamilton Lane) and Real Estate (ORG) portfolios.