Episode summary
Wyoming State Treasurer Curt Meier Spoke to Courtney McQuade
Summary
Wyoming State Treasurer Curt Meier says the state’s $34 billion sovereign wealth fund has beaten its benchmark in six of the last seven years, and he credits that record to a team approach and active advice from the investment committee. He plans to talk about portfolio construction at the forum, especially how Wyoming is trying to stay flexible rather than locked into a rigid 60/40-style framework.
Meier said Wyoming moved from a restrictive structure requiring at least 30% fixed income to a 70/30 reference portfolio, which he says gave the state room to exit fixed income and use floating-rate strategies when rates were falling. He argues nimbleness is the key to finding opportunities now, and he thinks the second half of 2025 could be an unusually strong growth period, perhaps the best since the 1950s.
He also described a long-shot but potentially transformative Wyoming energy idea: using coal-fired power, carbon sequestration, and underground saline deposits to help extract lithium in situ. Meier said the state is working with the University of Wyoming’s School of Energy Resources to test whether heat, pressure, and chemical processes could float lithium to the top underground and make Wyoming a major lithium producer.
Key takeaways
- Curt Meier says Wyoming’s $34 billion fund has beaten its benchmark in six of the last seven years.
- Meier says the state shifted from a restrictive 60/40-style framework to a 70/30 reference portfolio to gain flexibility.
- He argues nimbleness matters most now because it lets Wyoming move into floating-rate mechanisms and other opportunities.
- Meier expects the second half of 2025 to be one of the strongest growth periods since the 1950s.
- He says Wyoming’s School of Energy Resources is studying in-situ lithium extraction from underground saline deposits using coal-sequestration energy.
Notable quotes
“being nimble I think is always you know very very important and looking at what opportunities lay ahead of you and be able to take advantage of them”
“I believe the second part of this year is going to be something that we haven't experienced in growth since the 50s”
How the episode opens
Treasurer Meyer, you're joining us in Denver for a panel on portfolio construction and how to find the best opportunities this year. Many are calling this a new investment era unlike anything we've seen before. As a state treasur of Wyoming, can you give us a sneak peek into what you're planning to bring to that conversation?
Well, I think that we're going to, you know, talk about uh our uh I guess sovereign wealth fund here and our other funds a bit. Uh we're we're roughly 34 billion in assets under management and we've last uh seven years essentially uh six of those going on seven and we've beaten our benchmark. So, we've got a a great uh group of people and uh we have some outstanding uh advisors in our investment funds committee and essentially we uh we're a team.
I haven't worked a day in my life since I got this job because it's just so fun, you know, meeting the challenges and uh having the opportunity to serve the people of Wyoming.
I love to hear that. Now, Treasure Meyer, you're overseeing state finances at a time when the traditional 6040 portfolio construct is being fundamentally challenged. Where do you think investors are missing the biggest opportunities right now?
Well, I think it's in flexibility. We we set up a few years ago when uh we we saw the interest rates were going to go down, we had a uh a portfolio structure that was uh really constrictive. We had to have at least 30% fixed income and everything else considered equity.
So what we did was we did to we went to a 7030 reference portfolio. So the risk associated with that is a little over 12.2 to 12.5 on that and uh essentially it freed us up to get out of fixed income and get into floating rate mechanisms at that time.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- wyoming lithium
- sovereign wealth fund
- portfolio allocation 70/30
- in-situ lithium extraction
- growth outlook 2025
Watch the episode
Watch “Wyoming State Treasurer Curt Meier Spoke to Courtney McQuade” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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