New Mexico State Investment Office Trust

The New Mexico State Investment Office is the investment office of the New Mexico State Investment Council. It is responsible for carrying out the investment management policies of the State Investment Council, which was established in 1958.

The New Mexico State Investment Council managed $23.5 billion as of April 2018, according to its website. Under the guidance of the New Mexico State Investment Council, the State Investment Office manages the assets of four state of New Mexico permanent funds - Land Grant, Severance Tax, Tobacco Settlement and the Water Trust Fund. It is responsible for preserving and enhancing the principal of the permanent funds over the long term. The State Investment Office also provides investment management services to 19 other state agencies and political subdivisions in New Mexico.

New Mexico's permanent funds are viewed as assets that represent the depletion of the state's natural resources. As endowment trusts, the funds are intended to provide permanent and continuing benefits for both present and future generations of New Mexicans.

The New Mexico State Investment Council is considered a sovereign wealth fund. The fund’s website defines a sovereign wealth fund as:

A permanent endowment fund owned by and managed exclusively for a sovereign entity, e.g. a state, and benefiting that state or other specified beneficiaries that:

• is independent from other state financial or political institutions;
• is governed and managed by fiduciaries;
• is generally established from receipts generated by commodity leases, sales, or taxes (typically oil and gas);
• has a long-term investment horizon designed to achieve desired financial objectives;
• invests in diverse asset classes; and
• has as its purpose to provide:
  • • savings (to fund government services and ensure inter-generational equity for its citizens);
    • budget stabilization;
    • income (e.g. university endowments); or
    • economic development.

According to the fund’s website:

• The SIC is a professional institutional investment organization that manages and invests New Mexico’s $23.5 billion permanent funds - the third largest in the U.S.
• Annually, the permanent funds provide a significant portion of the state budget and in FY18 will distribute $899 million to the general fund and beneficiaries.
• On average, these benefits save each New Mexico household about $1,100 in taxes every year.
• The value of the funds has grown by more than $7.5 billion over the past five years while also providing over $4.6 billion to the state.
• As the funds grow, the amounts contributed to the state budget also increase.
• Fund investments have earned an average of 8.9 percent during the past five years while lowering long-term investment risk through significant portfolio reconstruction.
• These "sovereign wealth funds" should be a source of pride to all New Mexicans.