The MOSERS Board of Trustees met for their quarterly meeting on February 18, 2021. Since the official minutes of that meeting won't be available until after they are approved at the next quarterly board meeting, we are providing this summary in order to get information to you more quickly. Please watch the video above and read the information below to learn more.

Hello, and welcome to this edition of A Moment with MOSERS!

On February 18^th, the MOSERS Board met for their first board meeting of 2021. The first order of business was the election of officers. Crystal Wessing was re-elected as Board Chairwoman and Gary Metzger was re-elected as Vice Chairman. Congratulations to Crystal and Gary and thank you for your continuing leadership!

Next, the Board's external actuaries presented their report on demographic assumptions in the experience study. For funding purposes, our Board adopts a variety of economic and demographic assumptions. At least once every five years, we compare the assumptions with our actual experience.

The February presentation focused on demographic assumptions - the "people" factors - such as when we would expect members to retire or leave state employment, a member's marital status, and how long members are expected to live. The actuaries reviewed what MOSERS' actual experience was from July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2020.

This process provides valuable insight, which assists our Board in determining if adjustments need to be made to any assumptions going forward. These assumptions are critical to the calculation of liabilities and to ensuring proper system funding.

We will have another Board meeting in April to follow up on the demographic assumption discussion and review the experience findings of the economic assumptions such as inflation, salary & payroll growth, cost-of-living assumptions, and investment returns.

Next, the Board received a quarterly update on MOSERS' investment program. As I've mentioned in previous updates, the Board adopted a new investment portfolio in 2018. The new asset allocation was fully transitioned in February 2021. While MOSERS is a diversified investor focusing on long-term investment performance, the Board receives quarterly updates from staff and the board investment consultant. This quarter's report to the board was very positive with MOSERS' one-year return for calendar year 2020 at 15.5%!

With the halfway mark of the current legislative session just around the corner, I provided an update on legislative proposals and appropriations bills that we are tracking. You, too, can follow any bills that might impact MOSERS on our Legislation page. Each week we post an updated legislative status report for your information.

As MOSERS continues to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, we have suspended in-person visits to our buildings, however, our staff remains available to you in a variety of ways and at every stage of your career.

If you're a new employee, watch our website for information about a new series of webinars for you, with registration opening in early March.

For Mid-Career employees we will also host five webinars in 2021 just for you.

For our members that are within 5 years of retirement eligibility, I encourage you to enroll in one of our very popular Ready to Retire sessions soon!

(Daytime and evening sessions are available for New Employee, Mid-Career, and Ready to Retire sessions.)

If you are a retired member, you will be happy to know that registration is now open for our 2021 Coffee Break sessions, which include an educational program and allow interaction between MOSERS staff and retirees. All 2021 Coffee Break sessions will be held online.

As always, you can still contact one of our benefit counselors by phone or email for more information about our educational opportunities.

Thank you for watching this edition of A Moment with MOSERS. In this life, we only have so many moments, please know that we appreciate you spending THIS moment with us. Have a great day and a very happy spring time!