How the plan decides where to invest

Investing for such a large plan is complex. Policies help the Teachers' Pension Board of Trustees decide how and where to invest.

Investment beliefs

The board follows a set of investment beliefs as a guide for making investment decisions. These beliefs help the board define the plan’s approach to investing to make your pension a secure and valuable part of your future.

Investment beliefs also help the board make practical decisions about responsibilities such as:

• Monitoring British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) as the fund’s investment manager
• Allocating assets
• Setting goals for investment performance

Each investment belief is backed by supporting principles.

The investment beliefs fall into four categories:

Governance

• Good governance helps the plan provide BC teachers with reliable retirement income

Risk management

• The board must take and effectively manage risk to achieve the plan’s long-term goals
• Focusing on long-term investment results gives the plan a competitive advantage

Environmental, social and governance/Climate change

• Investments perform better over the long term and have less risk when the board considers environmental, social and governance matters
• Climate change is a complex issue that will have a significant long-term impact

Portfolio management

• BCI chooses between active and passive management strategies based on what it expects to bring higher returns
• Costs must be effectively managed
• The board must understand the plan’s liabilities to set the investment strategy
• No one investment style, region or capitalization (company size) will always produce higher returns, and it isn’t possible to predict which will perform better over a given period

See the Statement of Investment Policies and Procedures for a complete list of investment beliefs and supporting principles.