Over the last 10 years, the return on those “public asset classes” has surpassed expectations by more than $2 billion, according to the comptroller’s analysis. But nearly all of that extra gain — about 97 percent — has been eaten up by management fees, leaving just $40 million for the retirees, it found.

I started managing our own retirement account a couple of years ago. I had a personal account over the same period of a managed one, and although I am not by any means a savvy investor, the difference in the returns were striking. After taking over the managed account, it has done much better.

I highly suspect that there is skimming in addition to the reported fees for managed accounts.