ELCA Pension Funds Enter Market Valuation

PENSION FUNDS MAKE SMOOTH TRANSITION TO MARKET VALUATION

Timing couldn?t have been better for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America?s Board of Pensions and much of the $3.6 billion in assets it
manages for pastors and other church employees.  The pension board
ushered in the new year by converting $1.6 billion in balanced funds, a
mixture of stocks and bonds, and bond funds to market value reporting --
a move that for the first time gives non-retired plan members the freedom
to transfer money in their pension accounts among all seven of the
Board?s investment fund choices.  ?Good timing was essential to move
that large amount of money successfully and still protect the positive
cash value of 23,000 plan member pension accounts,? said John G.
Kapanke, president of the ELCA Board of Pensions.  Market value
reporting shows the real cash value of funds, reflecting the prices of
stocks and bonds set each day in the marketplace.  While the move to
market value reporting will not affect long-term investment performance,
non-retired plan members will see more short-term fluctuations in their
pension account values than in the past.  Many of the 11,000 retired plan
members also benefited this new year when the pension board shifted
$400 million in bond funds into a balanced fund to provide larger pension
payments over time.  The Minneapolis-based pension board collects and
invests contributions that churches and ELCA-affiliated organizations
make on behalf of plan members for pension, health and other benefits
and related services.  Plan members invest contributions in stock,
balanced, bond and money market funds, or a combination of the funds,
to build pension accounts that will be annuitized at retirement for lifetime
monthly pension payments.