2012 a Terrible Year for Illinois Public Pension Returns

Two out of five plans lost money. None reached as high as 1 percent on returns.

Not a single one of the state's five public pension systems earned more than 1 percent returns on their investments last year. In fact, two of the five funds actually lost money.

Although pension trustees predicted Illinois' five pension funds would earn more than $5.1 billion in fiscal year 2012, the funds actually earned less than $239 million. The systems posted a combined investment return of just 0.38 percent, far below the combined 8.18 percent expected.