Money for nothing?

The Wall Street Journal reports today (July 3) on a study that finds an inverse relationship between investment results of pension funds paying high fees and those paying low fees. The 10 state pension funds paying the highest fees had a median five-year annualized return of 1.34%. The 10 paying the lowest fees had an annualized 2.38% return for the same period. Another case of the public paying more for less where the government is concerned. Illinois paid fees at a rate of 0.546% for a 5-year annualized return of 0.70%. That put it in the sixth-worst place for returns, and the ninth worst for fees. Anyone surprised?

– John Davis