CalPERS, the world's largest pension fund, has arrived at a crossroads. The credit crisis has not been kind to it and its plans to diversify away from the United States and away from stocks and bonds. The pension's asset value peaked at $260 billion in October 2007 before plunging to $160 billion a year and a half later. It has staged a comeback since then and now hovers around $200 billion.

Some people have found fault with the pension's push overseas and into private equity, real estate, commodities, infrastructure investments and the like. The CIO of the fund, the recently departed Russell Read, ended up in a disagreement with the funds top consultant, Wilshire and Associates, which would have preferred more of a concentration in U.S. stocks and bonds. Read tells Reuters exclusively that his moves actually increased diversification and ratcheted risk down. The issue is where does the fund go from here. This issue has been drowned out unfortunately by the pay-to-play scandal that has erupted. 

For more:
- here's the article
- CalPERS advisor quits after land deals sours

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