Investment Principles | Our Investment Strategy

One goal:
stable, secure pensions for today and tomorrow.

Taking a Balanced Approach

The fund’s overall policies have been created through careful analysis of market cycles and results patterns, keeping sustainability top of mind.

The fund invests thoughtfully in asset classes that reflect the desired growth seeking and risk reducing profiles intended to best manage risk/reward trade-offs.

20%

Liability-Hedging Assets

A core part of the allocation, designed to meet the fund’s obligations and manage fund volatility by partially hedging interest rate risks. Assets in this group include fixed income.

30%

Hybrid Assets

This asset group has both risk-reducing and return-seeking characteristics and include real assets and non-traditional fixed income credit assets.

50%

Return-Seeking Assets

This asset group optimizes growth and is expected to earn a risk premium over time. Assets in this group include public market equities, for long-term growth investment.

“The fund is diversified to manage volatility and provide stable returns and growth at an acceptable level of risk.”

— York University Pension Fund Investment Principles

Core Principles

Our driving objective is to guarantee pension security through steady growth, careful risk management and consistent alignment with sustainable investing practices. Our core principles ensure we manage to optimize results.

The fund has an overall orientation toward active fund management with the aim to outperform a particular market index/benchmark through asset allocation and/or stock selection and/or currency decisions.

When picking investment managers, a detailed assessment of both quantitative and qualitative factors is done for all our mandates, including consideration of their investment philosophy, risk management, performance and holdings, and how ESG factors are integrated into the investment decision-making to ensure sustainable portfolios over the long-term.

The fund uses specialty managers with complementary investment styles. Fund managers are retained with a focus on investing in diversified assets that will generate consistent returns.

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing considerations are made for all aspects of fund investment, management and oversight, and are key aspects of the fund’s management.

The fund’s managers and portfolios are consistently monitored to ensure compliance with investment policies and achievement of objectives.