The Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System this week announced that its investment program earned a 5.41% return in the fiscal year that ended June 30, slightly exceeding its policy benchmark of 5.27%. The earnings were announced during the investment board’s quarterly meeting. IPERS is a retirement plan for Iowa’s public employees. At the end of the 2023 fiscal year, IPERS Trust Fund totaled $41.13 billion, a $1 billion increase from a year ago. “IPERS overcame several market challenges in fiscal year 2023, including interest rate hikes, debt ceiling concerns and uncertainty in some aspects of the private markets sector to achieve a positive return,” IPERS CEO Greg Samorajski said in a prepared statement. A summary of IPERS’ fiscal year-end and quarterly results are available on its website.