The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints lost $12.1 billion — so far — in 2022

[IHAQ]

New reports indicate the huge account managed by the faith’s investment arm, Salt Lake City-based Ensign Peak Advisors, dropped by $1.8 billion in value during the third quarter to $40.3 billion as of the end of September, its third consecutive quarterly decline.

Volatile markets since January reduced the church’s vast portfolio of stocks and mutual funds to where it was in fall 2020 as it was rebounding from a pandemic plunge. Its worth climbed from a three-year low of $29.9 billion seen in early 2020 to a peak of $52.3 billion in late 2021, before heading decidedly downward in 2022.

The account shed $3.1 billion in the first three months of 2022, followed by a $7.1 billion drop in April, May and June and $1.8 billion dip in July, August and September, according to the latest disclosures filed with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission.

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2023/01 ... ons-third/

Meanwhile, the number of people in need grew steadily.

[Dr. Shades]

. . . to $40.3 billion as of the end of September, its third consecutive quarterly decline. . . Its worth climbed from a three-year low of $29.9 billion seen in early 2020 to a peak of $52.3 billion in late 2021[.]

So, the $100 billion net worth is a myth?

[Moksha]

. . . to $40.3 billion as of the end of September, its third consecutive quarterly decline. . . Its worth climbed from a three-year low of $29.9 billion seen in early 2020 to a peak of $52.3 billion in late 2021[.]

So, the $100 billion net worth is a myth?

Due to bad publicity, they could be transferring wealth from stocks to mattresses with the view that mattresses can't be traced after workers at the Presiding Bishopric Office remove the factory tags.

[drumdude]

. . . to $40.3 billion as of the end of September, its third consecutive quarterly decline. . . Its worth climbed from a three-year low of $29.9 billion seen in early 2020 to a peak of $52.3 billion in late 2021[.]

So, the $100 billion net worth is a myth?

I’m pretty sure the Mormon church’s entire net worth isn’t invested in one sole hedge fund. Especially after it was exposed publicly.

[Dr Moore]

They report US public stocks holdings through a consolidated 13F now, basically since the numbers leaked a few years ago. If you read those leaked files, you see the Ensign Peak strategy allocates 35% of assets to US stocks.

So what we have in the Tribune is tracking and loss estimates for that part of the portfolio only. It doesn’t know what was lost in other assets: international public stocks, fixed income instruments, private equity, venture capital, cash, treasuries and real estate.

It’s kind of pathetic the Trib can’t be bothered to properly contextualize any of this. It’s not rocket science. More like basic literacy for investment commentators.

[Analytics]

. . . to $40.3 billion as of the end of September, its third consecutive quarterly decline. . . Its worth climbed from a three-year low of $29.9 billion seen in early 2020 to a peak of $52.3 billion in late 2021[.]

So, the $100 billion net worth is a myth?

No, the $100 billion figure isn't a myth, and their net worth is considerably higher than that.

What we know is that as-of February 2018, the Church's assets in the "EPA Universe" were $124 billion. This includes the financial assets held by the Church, and the Church's commercial real estate. It doesn't include assets held directly by the Church.

After the whisteblower report came out, the Church's lawyers decided to start complying with SEC regulations and reporting a subset of their assets to the SEC.

The SEC maintains a list of publicly traded assets that are called "Section 13F Securities." If you are an institutional investor who invests more than $100 million in these securities, you are required to file reports with the SEC regarding your positions in these securities. The idea is that if you are a big institutional investor, you might be able to manipulate the market with how you go about buying and selling securities. The SEC wants to keep tabs on these big boys to see if they are doing anything illegal.

Of Ensign Peak Advisor's +/- $100 billion in financial assets, only about $40 billion are on the list of Section 13F Securities. The rest are in other securities including cash, bonds, private equity, international equity, etc. Add to that something like $25 billion in commercial real estate, and another (pure guess) $5 billion in cash and reserves held directly by the Church, and you get closer to their total financial assets. Add to that the value of everything else that you think of when you think of the Church (i.e. land they are buying up in Missouri, chapels, temples, visitor centers, BYUs, polenisian center, libraries, etc.), and you get closer to the actual net worth, which is probably north of $200 billion.

[Analytics]

jinx!

[drumdude]

They report US public stocks holdings through a consolidated 13F now, basically since the numbers leaked a few years ago. If you read those leaked files, you see the Ensign Peak strategy allocates 35% of assets to US stocks.

So what we have in the Tribune is tracking and loss estimates for that part of the portfolio only. It doesn’t know what was lost in other assets: international public stocks, fixed income instruments, private equity, venture capital, cash, treasuries and real estate.

It’s kind of pathetic the Trib can’t be bothered to properly contextualize any of this. It’s not rocket science. More like basic literacy for investment commentators.

Newspapers have enough trouble just keeping the lights on these days.