Courtesy of Peter Chapman

MarketsMuse Editor Note: This is a late post; the original article was published Mar 21. Given the use of options as a means to enhance returns for pension funds has remained ridiculously under-explored by fiduciaries since listed options were introduced 4 decades ago, now that public pension plans are struggling, perhaps Sacramento will prove to be a pioneer.

For the past 18 months, the City of Sacramento has been writing covered calls and buying the occasional put. It trades options primarily to enhance its yield, but also to preserve principal.

John Colville is the city’s portfolio manager. “A big objective of our portfolio is fixed-income interest and dividend payments,” Colville explained. “We needed to augment that. And you can’t do it in bonds or the stock market.”

Colville manages about $300 million of the city’s $2 billion in pension assets. Of that, about $135 million is invested in equities. The rest is comprised of fixed-income securities.

Of that $135 million in equities, Colville writes calls against $70 million to $90 million during any given month. He uses a mixture of options on indexes, exchange-traded funds, and individual stocks.

The decision to incorporate options into his investment strategy was not taken lightly. Most pension plans abhor options because they are not well understood and conjure up images of gambling. But a yawning gap between the plan’s assets and liabilities gave Colville’s investment board the courage it needed to take the plunge.

Based on data provided by Colville, in the 18 months from July 2011 to December 2012, Sacramento’s options program proved successful. The yield in its large portfolio jumped 50 percent, from 2 percent to 3.2 percent, as a result. The yield on its international portfolio more than doubled to 4.8 percent Continue reading →