Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #travisfail

The Pension War Room™️brings you this informed and insightful commentary from Dr. Bob Ascah. This is the greatest one article account of the entire sordid affair. #ABLeg #handsoffmypension #Travisfail
abpolecon.ca/2021/01/17/ucp…

"The key point reiterated by the union leaders was the money being managed was not government money but the savings of hundreds of thousands of Alberta public sector workers and retirees."

Take that into your MLA meeting. #ABLeg #handsoffmypension

And,

"Firstly, it seems the UCP government is following its formula of acting in an adversarial manner with public sector workers....Affected parties simply are not consulted." #ABLeg

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This is your daily pension announcement: Please remember YYC, the average LAPP pension paid is $18,000. Even at that amount the AstroTurf organizations with secret donors seem concerned. #handsoffmypension #ABLeg

The numbers are in! The pandemic has been good to some people...

To the end of 2020 North American billionaires (661 of them) have profits totaling $1 trillion dollars from the beginning of the pandemic. That is a cool trillion baby! #handsoffmypension #ABLeg

Which again makes me wonder about the abject stupidity of changing Alberta from the lowest corp tax province to the ultra-lowest corp tax province. Corporations pocketed the profit, made some Cayman Island deposits and Bob's your uncle. #ABLeg #Travisfail

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This is your daily pension announcement: The Pension War Room would like to thank the entire pension army as we get ready to welcome the new year! 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

Of course, I am still marinating in a loathsome broth, stuck on poor public policy and accountability. #ABLeg

On that note, I will again take a dip in the stinking, fetid cesspool of Alberta's public finance in the hopes of educating and inspiring. #ABLeg #travisfail

To quote a pension manager:
"In operation however, AIMCo has issues with alignment and dis-economies of scale... "

"As AIMCo has non-pension fund clients, its strategy is aligned more closely with an investment fund (focusing on returns) as opposed to a pension fund manager (focusing on the liabilities)."

VOLTS is one example of a strategy that is not appropriate for pensions. #ABLeg #fail

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This is your second daily pension announcement! Remember when Travis said that AIMCO will save beaucoup dollars due to economies of scale? I sure do.
The AIMCO "business case" claims costs will come in below 50 bps when ATRF is subsumed. #ABLeg #bullshit #travissucks

For comparison we should use CPPIB which is roughly 4 times larger than AIMCO ($410 bil vs $103 bil). Being larger with roughly the same investment operation it should have lower costs.....

...but it doesn't. Costs for CPPIB right around 90 bps. #ABLeg

That's right. Cost is roughly double. So much for economies of scale.

(This was predicted by academic research that shows dis-economies of scale kick in above $100 billion. Thank Bill Morneau for the research.)

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This is your daily pension announcement: I want to straighten a few details out from the functionaries not the politicians. #AbLeg #travisfail

Re-upping this for commentary that I didn't have time for:

albertapolitics.ca/2020/05/ceos-l…

First, when Kevin chortled in superiority with:

"He also argued “media reporting has dramatically overstated the extent of the losses,” stating that “realized and unrealized losses to date are approximately $2.1 billion..." #ABLeg #AIMCOfail

Kevin and Athana are referencing initial reports of losses that were $4 billion ...revised numbers were "only" $2 billion lost. #stillashitton #fail

Now we find out that original $4 billion came from Kevin's mouth. ($2 billion realized +$2 billion unrealized). #ABLeg

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This is your daily pension announcement: The Management Employees Pension Plan edition! Unlike the teachers' plan, MEPP only has one sponsor namely Travis. So he can (and does) make unilateral decisions here. (Fun fact, AIMCO managers used to be members of this plan.) ##ABleg

First important fact, is that it is almost 2021 and they have not yet posted their 2019 Annual Report. Interesting choice. If you were a member of the plan you might want to inquire as to why that is. #ABLeg #travisfail #hidesomething

@premiamgmt

Next, I know this question is on your mind, how badly did the VOLTS debacle affect MEPP? Take a look @premiamgmt it is not pretty. #ABLeg #AIMCOfail

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This is your daily pension announcement: The Pension War Room™️ brings you some great analysis! #ABLeg #handsoffmypension #travisfail

thetyee.ca/News/2020/06/0…

The naughtiest bit: "Finance Minister Travis Toews last year claimed that AIMCo “regularly achieves spectacular investment performance.” Over the last decade, however, its returns have not been robust compared to other pension funds and returns have lagged as much as 1.5 per cent

The worst part is that teachers and GOA should be on the same side of this issue. Lower costs would benefit both parties.

It is just that this change will not result in lower costs and will also result in lower returns. #ABLeg #lies #whyareyoulying

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This is your daily pension announcement: The Pension War Room™️ unleashes AIMCo's investment results and some whoop-ass! Available for download here. #ABLeg #handsoffmypension #travisfail

aimco.alberta.ca/Media/News-Vie…

On the surface of the press release things sound good! AIMCo earned a net (of fees) return of 10.6% in 2019. But, as I have said many times, this number is nearly meaningless for comparison purposes. ATRF has a different year end and a different asset mix. #ABLeg

As Kevin would tell you, end date and asset mix need to be controlled to make this kind of comparison over a one year time frame.

CEO Kevin does admit a little ways down:

"we acknowledge that in the short-term we have not met our clients’ expectations.” #ABLeg #owthathurts

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This is your daily pension announcement: throwback to the 2008 financial crisis! You know, when 150 year old investment banks went bankrupt on derivative trading strategies! #handsoffmypension #travisfail #ABLeg

I don't want to panic anyone. But, AIMCo wants trust from teachers and other plan members. Both LAPP and PSPP, both exclusive AIMCO customers, finished 2019 below their return benchmarks. Would have been better indexed. #ABLeg

In the case of PSPP 1.46% below benchmark (benchmark=average return). Usually the goal is to earn some % above benchmark. (LAPP's goal is 0.8% above bench.) #ABLeg

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