Crain's Chicago Business
This article discusses a $10 billion Pension Obligation Bond issuance by the State of Illinois in 2003, which the State used to increase its retirement systems’ assets and make its required pension contributions in FY2003 and FY2004. A recent study compared the State’s total interest cost for the issuance of 5.05% with the annual rate of return on the State’s investments over the life of the issuance so far. In this blog post, the Civic Federation says that currently the issuance seems to have benefitted the State, but it is hard to draw any preemptive conclusions from a sample of the bond’s 30-year life.