3rd Consecutive Year of Strong Investment Gains
Last year proved to be another banner year of investment gains for the state’s 104 public retirement systems.
In fact, a recent annual report of the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission (PERAC) shows that nearly all systems posted a double- digit investment return in 2025 – marking the third consecutive year of gains. In fact, investment gains beating the assumed rate of return for most systems have been posted in eight of the past ten years.
For 2025, the highest return posted amongst Massachusetts systems was 17.17% for the Lexington Retirement System. The Commonwealth’s Pension Reserves Investment Trust (PRIT) Fund officially earned 13.13% – more than 0.5% higher than was initially thought!
“Knowing that the financial markets performed well in 2025 we assumed the pension fund returns would be good, but these numbers truly exceed expectations. These results also reinforce our position that the outstanding investment success must be shared with retirees. Unfunded liabilities can continue to be paid off, while simultaneously improving COLA benefits to help retirees keep pace with inflation. Both can be done at the same time,” said Mass Retirees President Frank Valeri.
We have added two categories – COLA Base and Assumed Rate of return, as both are relevant to public retirees and the implementation of the new Enhanced COLA and COLA Reserve Fund.