The chairman of the elementary teachers' organization, Ran Erez, announced that he is ready to shut down the education system at the State Audit Committee, April 1, 2024/Knesset Spokesperson
war? Economic uncertainty? The stock and bond markets continued the wave of gains last March as well and closed the first quarter of the year for the major training funds in the general track with an average increase of 2.28%, with one public benefiting in particular - the teachers. The
training fund in the general track of the teachers organization 'Agor' recorded a return of 2.54% during last March, which is 0.26% higher than the average return of the ten training funds examined by Walla! Money for the same period.
The fund also recorded the highest return since the beginning of the year, which was 1.15% over the average The general funds for the entire quarter, which stood at 4.57%.
The leader of the table among the non-designated funds is Altshuler Shaham, which returned to the leader of the table after shuffling at the bottom for many months. The investment house's training fund also recorded a return of 2.54% last March and 4.71% since the beginning of the year.
The training fund that sealed the table from the bottom is that of the Harel Insurance Company, which achieved a return of 2.12% for the last month examined, and of 4.14% for the first quarter of the year. A gap of 0.42% from the leader of the table for the month of March, and of 0.57% compared to Altshuler's fund from the beginning of the year. and of 1.58% in front of 'Agor'.
The public of teachers constitutes about 5% of the total workforce in Israel, and 3 large dedicated general education funds (over NIS 7 billion) are currently run for them: 'Elementary' (Egor, see table), 'Teachers and Kindergarteners', which manages about NIS 21.7 billion , and 'High School Teachers', which manages about 7.3 billion shekels.
The data from the beginning of the year show an advantage in return for 'Agor', which was chosen to represent the dedicated funds in the table.
The number of new teachers entering the education system has been on a downward trend in recent years, mainly due to the salary conditions offered in the profession. Until their salary conditions are improved, the teachers will be able to take solace in the holiday gift they received from their medium-term savings, which were contributed by the increases in the stock and bond markets in Israel and around the world.
For example, the main indices on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange such as TA35, TA90 and TA125 rose by 3.25% , 3.26%, and 3.15%, respectively, last March. Along with an increase in the leading indices in the US such as the Nasdaq and the S&P500 which rose by 1.8% and 3.1%, respectively, for the same period.
Marta Nadler, chief investment officer at the IBI portfolio management investment house, which manages 'Agor' investments, explained to Walla Money that "the month of March continued the increases experienced in the markets since the beginning of the year, which were led by foreign markets, with an emphasis on the fields of energy, finance and things certain in technology.
"In Israel, the emphasis of the increases was felt mainly in the stocks traded in the Tel Aviv 90, Tel Aviv Oil and Gas, and Tel Aviv Technology indices, compared to weaker performances experienced in the real estate stocks.
"Examining the last three months cumulatively shows the overperformance experienced in foreign markets, and with an emphasis on the USA. The main sectors that contributed to the increases in the American market were industry, specific sectors in technology such as chips and the Internet, and construction.
"The Israeli market also experienced an excess return in shares from the residential construction sector since the beginning of the year, compared to the banks, for example, which were weaker. The European markets lagged a little behind with an underperformance in the first quarter of the year, despite their good performance during last March.
"Eastern markets The weakness of China continues to be pointed out alongside the strengthening of Japan, with the latter enjoying overperformance even in relation to the American markets, among other things as a result of investors moving to it from China.
"Government bonds in Israel and abroad close the last three months with a lack of performance in short-term bonds due to the slow pace of interest rate cuts compared to expectations. And the corporate
bond
, on the other hand, behaves better due to a relatively good overall economic situation, and stands out positively in the local market both in the contiguous channels and in the shekel.
And the non-tradable component also contributed, since increases were also experienced in debt volumes."
And how did Agor achieve the excess yield? "Agor itself mainly benefited from the bias in the equity component of its investment portfolio abroad, with an emphasis on the US and sectors such as technology. In addition, the fund benefited from the increases in Japan and the corporate bond component abroad, which contributed to the portfolio's returns since the beginning of the year.
"Besides all these Decisions such as the removal of bank stocks in Israel from the portfolio at the beginning of the year also contributed, given the relative performance of the deficit for that period.
"Looking ahead, the expectation is that the American economy will continue to lead as a strong economy, alongside the continued uncertainty hovering over the local market in the coming period. However, it should be noted that the pricing around the shares of the various sectors traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange has become, in our view, interesting."
CPA Bashar Kassem, CEO of Agor, added that "The teacher training funds have changed their approach to investments in recent years, out of an understanding and need to maximize the return options for the teacher population, which are required by the training funds as part of their sabbatical financing.
"The change in investment approach at Agor, for example, It included the examination and expansion of the risk-return relationship, while maintaining relatively conservative investment channels. The latter are still required as part of the protection policy required for public funds for teachers for their sabbatical years.
"On the other hand, the expansion makes it possible to increase the amount of money that is collected in the funds for them, when this actually turned Egor from a passive fund into a more active fund, which has a 'finger on the pulse' in the aspects of the investment portfolio allocation of its teacher colleagues."