Bonds Beat Stocks at Pension Funds, Turning 60/40 Inside Out
- Top 100 public companies have over 50% of assets held in debt
- State, local government pensions to buy more, JPMorgan says
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The debate over the traditional 60/40 portfolio seems endless, but for pensions at least, it’s over -- and bonds won.
The retirement funds of the top 100 U.S. public companies, with combined assets of about $1.8 trillion, have ratcheted up their fixed-income allocations to a record level. At the end of their last fiscal year, they held 50.2% of assets in debt, while slashing money parked in equities to an all-time low of 31.9%, according to a recent report from pension advisory firm Milliman Inc.