CalPERS is worth oodles of billions, so $140 mil is a drop in the bucket. As for return on investment, the state witholds 5 percent of salary from employees for the PERS contribution. The “employer contribution” varies annually based on a calculation set by PERS. In years where PERS has done well, the employer contribution (which comes directly out of the state budget) has been as low as zero. In “bad” years, it goes up. For 2006-07 it was around 17 percent (30 percent for law enforcement). The “return” depends on how long retirees live after retirement. If I retire at 55 and live to be 95, I get a pretty good deal at 50 percent of my highest year of salary plus annual COLAs for the rest of my life. If I die at 57, taxpayers get good deal.
