Look into the losses

十一月 28, 2003

Members of the University Superannuation Scheme (Letters, THES , November 14, 21) will have read in their annual report that the fund has lost some Pounds 30,000 per member since 2000. That's £6 billion among some 200,000 members.

At the peak of the stock-market boom, when by all historical measures shares were wildly overpriced, the USS kept only 11 per cent of members' funds in safe deposits (fixed interest or cash), but 75 per cent in equities. Even in 2001-02, with the equities bubble clearly deflating, these proportions were maintained.

This was presumably informed by "expert" advice - the USS report also notes that £13.5 million was spent last year on investment management expenses.

Ill-advised and inflexible are two descriptions of recent USS investment policy. Their current investment review should call for major changes in policy and personnel.

William J. Spence
Reader in theoretical physics
Queen Mary, University of London

请先注册再继续

为何要注册?

  • 注册是免费的,而且十分便捷
  • 注册成功后,您每月可免费阅读3篇文章
  • 订阅我们的邮件
注册
Please 登录 or 注册 to read this article.
ADVERTISEMENT