New Jersey’s Pension Fund achieved a final, unaudited return of 14.82 percent for the 12-month fiscal year ending June 30, 2026, outperforming its long-term assumed rate of return by 7.82 percentage points, Treasury’s Division of Investment announced during last week’s State Investment Council meeting.
The performance marks the third consecutive year of double-digit investment gains for the state’s pension portfolio, raising its three-year annualized return to 12.16 percent.
The strong returns coincide with the State committing a record $7.3 billion pension contribution for FY2027—representing the sixth consecutive full pension payment made by the state and the first under the administration of Gov. Mikie Sherrill. The ongoing commitment to full pension funding was recently cited by Kroll Bond Rating Agency as a key factor supporting its credit rating upgrade for New Jersey.
State financial leadership praised the Division of Investment staff and the State Investment Council for navigating complex market conditions while steering the fund back toward long-term solvency.
“The strong results over the past three years, along with the administration’s commitment to making the full payment, represent a huge step in returning the pension fund to solid ground, and helps protect the pensions of the hard-working men and women who rely on it in retirement,” New Jersey State Treasurer Aaron Binder said.
Shoaib Khan, director of the Division of Investment, highlighted the team effort required to maintain high portfolio yields.
“For the third year in a row, the Pension Fund has reached double digit returns, which is a testament to the knowledge, dedication and professionalism of the staff at the Division of Investment,” Khan said. “I’d also like to thank the State Investment Council, which plays an integral role in the success of the pension fund, for its expertise in establishing asset allocation and other investment policies and for its trust in Division staff to implement those policies.”
The pension fund’s growth was broad-based across all asset classes, with public equities leading overall performance:
- Emerging Markets Equity: Surged as the top-performing asset class, delivering a 39.53% return.
- U.S. Equity: Posted strong gains of 23.20%.
- International Developed Market Equity: Recorded a 21.61% return.
- Real Assets: Substantially beat its market benchmark, returning 23.76% compared to the benchmark’s 13.33% (an outperformance of 10.43 percentage points).
All reported performance figures remain subject to final verification pending the completion of the formal Fiscal Year 2026 audit.
