Alaska Permanent Fund reaches $91.9 billion as anniversary report details record earnings

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Oct. 2, 2026 – The Alaska Permanent Fund ended fiscal year 2026 worth $91.9 billion, gaining $6.8 billion during a year in which it generated record statutory net income and supplied about two-thirds of Alaska’s unrestricted state revenue, according to the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation.

APFC’s annual report, What Alaska Built, marks the Fund’s 50th anniversary and traces its growth from an initial deposit of approximately $734,000 into a financial foundation supporting current and future generations of Alaskans.

The fund’s board of trustees is in Nome today for its quarterly meeting. Jason Brune was reelected chairman.

For the fiscal year ending June 30, the Fund returned 12.42% net of fees, exceeding the Board’s inflation-plus-5% objective of 8.54%. Its value rose from $85.1 billion a year earlier.

The Fund’s longer-term results showed strong performance. Its 10-year annualized return of 9.28% exceeded both its performance benchmark of 8.91% and its total-return objective of 8.32%. The three-year annualized return was 9.84%.

Results were mixed over other periods. The five-year annualized return of 6.61% fell slightly below the 6.76% performance benchmark. For FY2026, the Fund exceeded its inflation-based objective but trailed its separate performance benchmark by 0.48 percentage points, according to APFC’s year-end financial update.

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Since investment inception, the Fund has produced an annualized return of 8.93% over 42.5 years.

Record income supports Alaska’s budget

Statutory net income reached a record $8.2 billion and was deposited into the Earnings Reserve Account. That measure reflects realized income available for legislative appropriation and differs from total investment returns, which also include changes in the market value of assets.

The Fund transferred $3.8 billion to the state general fund through the percent-of-market-value, or POMV, draw. Mineral royalty deposits added another $535 million to the Principal.

According to the annual report, the POMV transfer supplied approximately two-thirds of Alaska’s unrestricted revenue, underscoring the Fund’s central role in financing state services and Permanent Fund dividends.

Cumulative mineral royalty deposits now total $20.8 billion. Lifetime earnings have reached $119.8 billion, with $51.4 billion distributed for current generations and $68.4 billion retained for future investment.

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At fiscal year-end, the Principal totaled $73.8 billion, including unrealized appreciation, while the Earnings Reserve Account held $18.1 billion.

Trustees seek structural changes

The Board of Trustees again endorsed a constitutional amendment to consolidate the Fund into a single-account structure. APFC says the proposal would protect approximately 95% of Fund assets and establish automatic inflation-proofing.

Under the current structure, the Principal is constitutionally protected, while the Earnings Reserve Account is available for legislative appropriation. APFC reported that no transfer was appropriated for inflation-proofing in BY 2026, which it estimated at $1.5 billion.

The Board also approved an investment policy effective July 1, 2026. It raises target allocations for public equities to 34% and absolute return investments to 8%, while reducing targets for private equity to 17%, real estate to 10%, and private income to 9%.

Chief Investment Officer Marcus Frampton cited an RVK comparison ranking APFC as the top-performing domestic sovereign wealth fund over five- and 10-year periods using FY2025 data. He also identified elevated market valuations and geopolitical uncertainty as risks facing the investment portfolio.

The report notes a change  this year in Board membership, with Ralph Samuels joining the trustees and Craig Richards departing.

The full report, What Alaska Built, is at the APFC’s website.