US. These humble Pa. county pension plans beat PSERS’ returns by keeping it simple

Money management, according to billionaire hedge-fund managers and other high-paid practitioners, is a complex science and art. But does it really have to be? Big state pension funds in states like Pennsylvania or California spend many hundreds of millions of dollars a year hiring many sophisticated advisers to bet on arcane strategies -- multiple classes of hedge funds and private equity, real estate and debt funds -- in hopes of boosting long-term profit and protecting from market downturns. Over time,...