Toledo Blade cartoonist Kirk Walters lampoons STRS Ohio.

The lavish bonuses given out to managers of the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio have long been criticized by this editorial board and others. Now a financial journal is weighing in with evidence that supports the case.

A major respected journal has just used STRS as a case study of a serious pension governance problem. The only path is to address the problem. Simply starting to pay bonuses now on audited numbers is not enough. We suggest that an outside and independent entity be hired to address this problem and restore credibility to the pension.

"The director Doug Orchard does a great job telling the story of how public pension funds across the United States have been taken over by Wall Street alternative investments such as private equity through secretive accounts." - Jim Vail

A message from Gretchen Morgenson, NBC Senior Financial Reporter, to members of STRS Ohio Hello Ohio STRS members. I'm a reporter at NBC News who has covered the problems at STRS in the past and has recently heard from many members that it's time for another story. A place for me to start might be to hear from members who are experiencing financial hardships as a result of the pension's practices. I'd welcome members' stories at my work email: gretchen.morgenson@nbcuni.com. T

"A look at the two pictures I have given you shows the normal way pensions are funded, as presented by Cheiron in October, 2024. It's been the same since Harvard published this diagram in 1965. But look what STRS has done to it. Instead of three income sources STRS has added a fourth, through its devious manipulation of the total pension package that Retirees were promised."

Pension Fight Club is an investigative documentary by awardwinning filmmaker Doug Orchard that provides a national examination of the systemic financial risks and lack of transparency currently facing public retirement funds, including the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio (STRS Ohio). 30 years ago, public pensions were in great shape. Not anymore. What's going on? This groundbreaking 2026 documentary is a first-of-its-kind exposé that takes the most comprehensive look

In my previous post, Why Is It So Hard to Beat an Index, I explained how an index works and why it is hard in theory to beat an index. In this post, I review the results compiled by Standard and Poor’s (SPIVA), the definitive source of information comparing index investing to active investing, to see how active management underperforms index investing.

Attend the free premiere of the new documentary, Pension Fight Club, at the Crest Theater in downtown Sacramento on Tuesday, May 19th. The documentary will be released to the public after the premier on May 19th.