David Stafford, deputy chief investment officer at The City of Austin Employees' Retirement System (COAERS), was a guest on the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report Podcast.

During the interview, Stafford discussed COAERS’ decision to use REITs as part of a portfolio completion strategy starting in early 2020—an approach that has been successful for the fund and one that it continues to assess on an ongoing basis. He also spoke about the importance of having a mindset attuned to trying a new investment approach, the benefits that REITs provide to COAERS, market issues that COAERS is watching, advice for funds considering a change in strategy, and more.

COAERS is a defined benefit plan that administers retirement benefits for regular employees of the city of Austin and currently serves about 19,000 current, inactive, and retired members. The system’s investments total approximately $3 billion and are broadly diversified across asset classes including equities, real assets, fixed income, multi-asset strategies, commodities, and cash.

Episode 364: COAERS Seeing Increased Diversification, Liquidity, Returns from REIT Completion Strategy