The AB Teacher Pension War Room Profile picture
District Representative-Edmonton McMurray Educator, financial analyst and Pension Hawk; Opinions are my own. I believe in full accountability for @aimcoinvests
y knot Profile picture OK Stewart Profile picture Mary Jane Meeker Profile picture Sylvia Krogh Profile picture Carrie b Profile picture 11 subscribed
Oct 14 6 tweets 2 min read
The Pension War Room™️ will again sink into the effluent of pension discourse with a cautionary tale from 1992. The teachers' plan was seriously underfunded (mostly due to GOA).

Teachers were talked into a solution that involved them contribution 1.6% of pay. #AbLeg Image In hindsight we see that was a number with little basis in reality. And, after teachers started making that contribution it was found to be "wrong" that they needed to contribute 3.1% of pay. Nearly double.

Bait and switch 'berta style. #AbLeg
Jan 28 7 tweets 5 min read
This is your daily pension announcement! Good news from @ATRFPension, the Annual Report has just dropped. I need some time to analyze the entire thing but the great news is...
#ABLeg #handsoffmypension
atrf.com/about-atrf/202… The plan funded ration is up to 99% (up from 81% in 2014). This all important ratio means that assets almost = liabilities. This improvement is the result of important work the ATRF Board did over the last 10 years. #ABLeg
Nov 26, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
This is your daily pension announcement. The Pension War Room™️ notes the fiscal update for AB was released. The pension liabilities are on page 30. I would note the current liabilities are $0 as the plans are fully funded.

open.alberta.ca/dataset/9c81a5… I would also note that the assets of the pension plan DO NOT appear as assets for the GOA.

That is, of course, because that money does not belong to the GOA. Which, again, begs the questions as to why the GOA would make unilateral decisions about money that isn't theirs...
Nov 20, 2022 9 tweets 5 min read
This is your daily pension announcement. The Pension War Room™️is obliged to inform that @aimcoinvests does NOT have any crypto investments. So that toxic waste dump has been avoided (ON teachers lost millions with the FTX collapse.) #AbLeg #greatnews LAPP Q3 results are out. After all the positive months, things have turned not positive. Q3 had a -0.3% return, which on its own does not mean anything. Compared to the benchmark of +0.5% it is not good. Far too short of a time period to make firm conclusions. #AbLeg
Oct 30, 2022 6 tweets 3 min read
This is your daily pension announcement. The Pension War™️ is a spooky🦇🦇place to be! It is clear the GOA relies on confusion around the word "benchmarks" to explain away crappy decisions. Let me use LAPP as an example. Here is DM of TBF Athana:
“LAPP set something called a value-add [target];
it’s like a stretch goal.”

What she was talking about is the "policy benchmark". #AbLeg
Oct 29, 2022 8 tweets 4 min read
This is your daily pension announcement. The Pension War Room™️is basking in the afterglow of the Heritage Fund public meeting. Because, of course, @aimcoinvests has no other accountability to teachers or any other pension plan for that matter. #AbLeg #handsoffmypension A couple of finer points on the q's asked. The AIMCO business case stated that other funds like Heritage should save 0.04% (out of 0.90%) in costs because of scale. We haven't seen any savings yet. TBF seems to say we can't see it or measure it even if it existed... #AbLeg
Oct 23, 2022 5 tweets 3 min read
This is your daily pension announcement. On the heels of the huge #Rally4Ed it may get lost that the tiny bit of public accountability for @aimcoinvests is this week.

This committee is having their annual public meeting.

assembly.ab.ca/assembly-busin… "The Standing Committee on the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund invites all Albertans to its annual public meeting on Thursday, October 27, 2022, at 7 p.m. Attend in person at the Queen Elizabeth II Building, 9820-107 Street."
Oct 23, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
This is your daily pension announcement. The Pension War Room™️ attended a huge #Rally4Ed today. Teachers that were in the crowd expressed concern about pensions and #aimcoinvests. But really the focus was on why the UCP was dismantling a leading ed system. #AbLeg If you recall: Dr. Bob published a critical review of the MacKinnon report that the UCP blindly followed.
His findings:

"Consultation and cooperation are not necessary in reaching the Panel’s findings and recommendations."
abpolecon.ca/2019/10/30/cri…
Oct 8, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
This is your daily pension announcement: The Pension War Room™️can't help but notice that DS worked for the Fraser Institute at one time. That org is single-handedly responsible for the misinformation related to the cost of an Alberta Pension Plan. #AbLeg I have gone through their errors many times in this space. Suffice to say, they don't include any recognition that, as a much smaller plan, contributions need to be much higher as the plan is more risky. Never mind the fact that AB demographics are changing. #AbLeg
Oct 1, 2022 6 tweets 2 min read
This is your daily pension announcement! Apparently, the current position of Travis is that we should have an "optional" Alberta Pension Plan. Hard to believe but this idea is more stupid than the last. #AbLeg Defined benefit pension plans have two main advantages:
1. cost effective access to good institutional money managers. (Which would be AIMCO)
2. Mandatory participation from a young age. (Not sure how that would work in The Travis vision.)
Sep 24, 2022 8 tweets 4 min read
This is your daily pension announcement. Details make all the difference in the gut pile of pension policy. So today I will focus on getting some random details out. God knows the GOA would not provide them. #AbLeg First, I talked to some Toronto lawyers that have no direct connection to the @aimcoinvests negligence arbitration but were able to provide opinions more informed than my own. #AbLeg
Sep 24, 2022 8 tweets 3 min read
The Pension War Room™️brings you "the grift is strong with the UCP" edition. Everybody remembers Athana Mentzelopoulos, Deputy Minister of Treasury Board and Finance? She does live in Victoria and yet works for the GOA? she signed a two year extension to her employment contact. This is a scam perpetrated by Travis. Her current contract expired in April, 2023. You know, when the election will occur. And Athana's employment likely will end, severance pay would not be payable. Travis should have let that play out. #AbLeg
Sep 18, 2022 6 tweets 3 min read
Sorry, just had have this pension throwback from 2019. @ToewsforAlberta in his own words. He is keeping money THAT IS NOT THE PROVINCES with @aimcoinvests. You should really discuss that with the beneficial owners of said money. #AbLeg
edmontonjournal.com/opinion/column… "AIMCo has earned its reputation as a world-class investment manager..." that was quite a statement. It was wrong at the time and it is even more wrong now that Kevin has been sent packing and AIMCO is in a hearing to determine negligence. #AbLeg
Sep 18, 2022 4 tweets 3 min read
This is your daily pension announcement. The Pension War Room™️is still waiting for the results of the @aimcoinvests arbitration hearing! @ToewsforAlberta does NOT want this out during the leadership campaign. #AbLeg If you recall, this is some pension plans (not ATRF) alleging that AIMCo was negligent in losing billions of dollars via volatility options. These things are not done in open court but rather in top secret arbitration. #AbLeg
Sep 17, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
This is your daily pension announcement. The Pension War Room™️takes another bath in the stench that is pension policy in AB. Bob Dhillon has been appointed to the @aimcoinvests Board with absolutely no input from pension clients!
aimco.ca/insights/board… Pension plans that make up the vast majority of assets under management at AIMCO. I would submit he is marginally more qualified than the average oil and gas executive that historically is placed on the Board. Mr. Dhillon was a big financial supporter of PCAA candidates. #AbLeg
Sep 10, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
This is your daily pension announcement. The Pension War Room™️abides! Apparently, the doctors are being offered a contract that includes a clause intended to prevent ripping up of future contracts!?? We go to Dr. Bob for our QOTD on the creation of @aimcoinvests: #AbLeg This study looks at the creation of @aimcoinvests:
"The study also shows the major beneficiaries of the transformation appear to be the senior managers and particularly the senior executives of AIMCo, whose pay has increased significantly." #AbLeg
Sep 5, 2022 6 tweets 3 min read
This is your daily pension reminder:
@jkenney said that public sector pension plans “are indemnified by the Crown”. Copping said “in the end it is the Alberta Government that holds the liability for the ATRF plan not the ATA”.

Neither one of these statements are true. #AbLeg Public sector pensions are NOT indemnified by the crown. They are guaranteed by the assets that they have on deposit.

I wrote a letter to Travis asking him to show me this alleged indemnity in law. He replied without answering the question. #AbLeg
Aug 22, 2022 8 tweets 4 min read
This is your daily pension announcement: The Pension War Room™️is popping the popcorn and chilling the brewskis for a big pension fall. I do want to clear up where exactly that $1.3 billion that @aimcoinvests is being sued for is coming from. #AbLeg If you remember: @aimcoinvests lost $2 billion with the VOLTS derivative strategy. But here is the often confused point: they lost money that belonged (mainly) to three pension plans. These plan assets ARE NOT "public money" regardless of what Travis says. #AbLeg
Aug 20, 2022 11 tweets 5 min read
This is your daily pension announcement: The Pension War Room™️takes you back to the one and only FB post from Travis to teachers. It was a bad idea then, it is even a worse idea now!
m.facebook.com/story.php?stor… This is the start of the common theme. He accuses teachers of "misinformation" yet in this short FB post he has a casual relationship with the truth. Nowhere does he recognize that the pension money is held in trust as compensation for teachers by the ATRF Board.
Aug 13, 2022 6 tweets 3 min read
This is your daily pension announcement. The Pension War Room™️is taking this time to remind you of the failures of Travis' leadership. Example #3049: he did not step in to address @aimcoinvests clearly egregious bonus system. #AbLeg @aimcoinvests had a long-term incentive pan (LTIP) that rewarded executives handsomely for superior investment returns over 4 years. To calculate these often multi-million dollar bonuses a 4 year average return would be calculated. #AbLeg
Aug 12, 2022 5 tweets 3 min read
This is your daily pension announcement. The Pension War Room™️bears is mind that @jkenney failed because he was a micromanaging autocrat. The stories coming out now are something.

Travis won't win this leadership race because he still carries the stink of abject failure. #AbLeg Like thinking you could solve the AB deficit by cutting AISH. In reality, either permanently high energy revenues or a sales tax are the only ways to do that.

The McKinnon report even noted the reasonable level of spending on K-12 education in AB. Travis cut it anyway.