Index fund average beat Florida's state investment in past year

Just last week, the State Board of Administration touted a banner year: more than $19 billion in pension gains, topping its goal and performing better than many peers.

"This year's performance is a reflection of how the SBA conducts its business; we're prudent, we're disciplined, and we're patient," chief investment officer Ash Williams said in announcing the preliminary return of 22 percent for the fiscal year ending June 30.

But index fund advocates wonder what Florida is crowing about.

"I don't get their enthusiasm for the numbers," said Rick Ferri, an expert in low-cost indexing. "They have nothing to brag about."

The eight index fund portfolios in the Times' experiment made, on average, about 23 percent in last year's bull market — a point better than the state.

"This premise is so naive and shows such a lack of understanding of institutional investing that any comment would be unproductive,'' SBA spokesman Dennis MacKee said.

Sydney P. Freedberg, Times staff writer