Nation’s Biggest Pension Fund is 'Unhedging' its Bets

Hopefully this is a sign of a more reality-based investing strategy, taking hold in 'Retirement Security' business.

Calpers, Nation’s Biggest Pension Fund, to End Hedge Fund Investments

by Alexandra Stevenson and Michael Corkery, nytimes.com -- Sep 15, 2014

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the nation’s largest pension fund, will eliminate all of its hedge fund investments over the next year on concerns that investments are too complicated and expensive.

The pension fund, which oversees $300 billion, said on Monday that it would liquidate its positions in 24 hedge funds and six hedge fund-of-funds — investments that total $4 billion and more than 1 percent of its total investments under management.

The decision, after months of deliberation by the pension fund’s investment committee, comes as public pensions across the United States are beginning to assess their exposure to hedge funds. It is likely to reverberate across the investment community in the United States, where large investment funds look to Calpers as a model because of its size and the sophistication of its investments.
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Hedging theirour bets on more long-term investments, is a strategy that can stand the test of time. Hedge fund get-rich-quick betting, not so much.  Not so great for the economy either, when you re-count those Hedge Funds that that "earned" Billions -- by "betting on" our Mortgage Markets crumbling (ie. massively "shorting" them -- betting against the future ... our future.)

That's what Hedge Funds DO -- assuming they can make a quick-million-bucks. They damn the social consequences, and usually their fair share of taxes too.