Ep 72 - LEOFF Plan 1: How a pension turned into an endowment

Washington state has some of the strongest-funded pensions in the nation. In this episode, we sit down with Washington State Actuary, Matt Smith, to unpack why the Law Enforcement Officers' and Fire Fighters' (LEOFF) Plan 1 has an expected surplus. Matt breaks down simple ways to measure pension health, why LEOFF 1 now looks more like an endowment, and the policy and legal questions lawmakers face when deciding how to use expected surplus pension funds.