Post by Logan on Apr 16, 2016 8:41:57 GMT -6
MONTPELIER — Vermont’s debate over divesting coal and oil from its pension portfolio appears to have smoked out an uncomfortable truth: Nearly 20 years after the state proclaimed its pension funds tobacco-free, they still contain some tobacco investments.
That word came at a meeting this week of a subcommittee of the board that oversees Vermont’s public retirement funds. The subcommittee is studying divestment from coal, oil and other fossil fuel stocks.
State Treasurer Beth Pearce confirmed the tobacco investments are contained in “co-mingled” index funds. The state’s roughly $3.6 billion in pension funds are about 30 percent in separately owned stocks and 70 percent in co-mingled funds similar to the mutual funds in many retirement accounts, according to a spreadsheet provided this week to members of the Vermont Pension Investment Committee.
Through those co-mingled accounts, about $6.8 million of retirement funds for teachers, state employees and municipal employees is invested in tobacco, Pearce said. That equates to about 0.19 percent of the overall portfolio — picture a fifth of an acre in a 100-acre field.
Read more: www.timesargus.com/article/20160415/NEWS01/160419751
That word came at a meeting this week of a subcommittee of the board that oversees Vermont’s public retirement funds. The subcommittee is studying divestment from coal, oil and other fossil fuel stocks.
State Treasurer Beth Pearce confirmed the tobacco investments are contained in “co-mingled” index funds. The state’s roughly $3.6 billion in pension funds are about 30 percent in separately owned stocks and 70 percent in co-mingled funds similar to the mutual funds in many retirement accounts, according to a spreadsheet provided this week to members of the Vermont Pension Investment Committee.
Through those co-mingled accounts, about $6.8 million of retirement funds for teachers, state employees and municipal employees is invested in tobacco, Pearce said. That equates to about 0.19 percent of the overall portfolio — picture a fifth of an acre in a 100-acre field.
Read more: www.timesargus.com/article/20160415/NEWS01/160419751