Utah Workers Petition State Pension Fund

The petition is in response to a change made in August that imposed a 2% of total retirement balance fee on trades occurring more than once in a 30-day period. The state pension fund claims that this is necessary to cover the high administrative costs of individual trading. The group of employees, however, claims that is it limiting their trading ability, and thus lowering the returns in their retirement accounts.

“We are concerned and upset at current Utah Retirement System practices and policies, which have severely curtailed our ability to effectively manage our retirement funds,” the petition states, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. The petition was emailed to the state’s lawmakers, as well as the governor and Pension Fund director Robert Newman.

Governor Olene Walker’s staff said that as of Wednesday, they had not received the petition. However, on the fund Web site ( http://www.urs.org/general/pdf/feeletter.pdf ), the fees we’re defended as a means to cover costs associated with such short-term trading.