Of course, the annual returns aren't in yet for fiscal year 2001, which began last July. During that period, U.S. stock indexes have plummeted. The index dipped below 2,000 Monday for the first time in more than two years and inched back above 2,000 Tuesday with some gains. South said it's possible that the state's stock pool may lose value for fiscal year 2001, when annual returns are totaled after the end of June. But the board is more concerned with the long term, he said.
Prices go up and prices go down.
We have paper losses and we have paper gains. When the board looks back over its 26-year history of investing pension funds, stock investments have outperformed other investments on an average, annual return basis, he said. The Montana State Fund, which provides workers' compensation insurance for more than 20,000, also invests a small portion of its reserves in the stock market. Montana voters last November approved a constitutional amendment allowing the fund to invest up to 25 percent of its money into stocks. The goal for the fund is to invest about 15 percent of its portfolio in stocks, Christiansen said.