The State Treasurer is the custodian of the Plan assets and serves as the Chief Investment Officer. 

Equity assets (e.g., common stock, preferred stock, and debentures convertible into common stock) are invested in conjunction with policies adopted by the Investment Advisory Committee. 

Committee members are: 

• State Treasurer Dale R. Folwell, CPA, Chair
• John Aneralla 
• Lentz Brewer 
• Loris Colclough 
• David Hartzell 
• Michael Mebane 
• Greg Patterson

The state expects to continue the Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System indefinitely; however, because future conditions are unforeseeable, the North Carolina General Assembly may modify the provisions of the system.

These pages summarize he main features of the Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System of North Carolina. The official text governing the operations of the system and the payment of all benefits is found in Chapter 135 of the General Statutes and Title 20 of the North Carolina Administrative Code.

Members currently contribute six percent of gross salary each month to TSERS.

For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, employers will contribute 16.79 percent of the gross payroll of members each month to TSERS for retirement benefits.

The Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System has received several awards and recognitions for being a well-funded pension system.

A “stress test” by The Pew Charitable Trusts concluded that North Carolina’s state pension fund is well positioned to maintain solvency during tough economic times. We continue to be labeled as “actuarially sound” because of the consistent use over the years of:

• Actuarial assumptions based on experience 
• An approved actuarial funding method 
• The recognition of all promised benefits in the actuarial liabilities 

A generally accepted measure of the soundness of any retirement system is to relate the total assets to the total accrued liabilities. This determines the funded ratio or percentage of the system. The total of the accrued liabilities is found by adding the total assets and the unfunded accrued liabilities.