The people who manage more than 50 billion dollars in state retirement funds say the recent stock market drop should not be a serious long term problem. More than 400 thousand former state employees, teachers, state troopers and judges receive checks from the state managed retirement funds.
Terry Stanton is with the State Treasury Department. He says the retirement fund is managed to absorb the changes in the financial world.
"We’re invested long-term. We have a well-diversified portfolio. And when you’re in the market for the long-term…you fully realize that there will be fits and starts and dips and there will be peaks as well."
Stanton says about a third of the retirement funds’ assets are tied to the domestic stock market. The rest of the fund is invested in real estate, foreign markets and other financial areas.