One of the biggest values of having access to fee schedules is simply understanding the range of fees pensions are actually paying, and how those fees are structured.
For example, knowing that a certain pension pays, lets say, 10 bps in management fees for their U.S. equity strategies gives managers a directional benchmark. It helps answer practical questions like: Am I in the right ballpark? or How do I need to tailor our fee proposal?
Beyond headline rates, fee schedules provide visibility into how pensions structure fees across strategies. Are they using performance-only fees anywhere? What are they paying for active equities versus passive? How do fees differ by sleeve within the portfolio?
They also allow managers to see how fees change as ticket sizes increase. As check sizes get larger, fee breaks become more common and seeing where and how those step-downs occur offers valuable insight into where and how GP’s are encouraging larger checks.
Taken together, fee schedules offer a realistic, market-driven view of pricing – not theoretical targets, but what’s actually getting done.
To explore all fee schedules in Dakota Marketplace, book a demo!
In this article, we review 10 fee schedules from large public pensions that were added to Dakota Marketplace in Q4 2025. The goal is not to rank or compare these plans, but to highlight how fee schedules can provide valuable insight into pricing ranges, fee structures, and scale-driven dynamics across strategies.
Top 10 Fee Schedules Collected in Q4 2025
1. Massachusetts Water Resources Authority Retirement System
2. Montana Board of Investments
3. San Mateo County Employees' Retirement Association
4. Arkansas Teacher Retirement System
5. New Mexico State Investment Council
View the full fee schedules for these pensions in Dakota Marketplace.
1. Stanislaus County Employees' Retirement Association
2. Contra Costa County Employees Retirement Association
3. Imperial County Employees Retirement System
4. City of Atlanta Pension Investment Board
5. Montana Public Employees' Retirement Association
View the full fee schedules for these pensions in Dakota Marketplace.
Why Fee Schedules Matter, and Where to Find Them
Fee schedules offer a practical lens into how large pensions think about pricing, structure, and scale. They help move fee discussions away from assumptions and anecdotes and toward real, observable market behavior. Whether it’s understanding the range of management fees paid for active equities, identifying where performance-only structures are used, or seeing how fees step down as mandate sizes increase, these documents provide context that’s difficult to replicate elsewhere.
Within Dakota Marketplace, fee schedules sit alongside the pensions themselves and on the Documents tab making it easy to filter and navigate. As new documents are added each quarter, they help paint a more current picture of how pensions approach manager compensation across strategies and ticket sizes.
Taken together, fee schedules are not about finding the “lowest” fee. They’re about understanding what’s realistic, competitive, and aligned. Having access to this information helps managers price more effectively, prepare for diligence conversations, and engage allocators with a clearer understanding of how fees are actually negotiated in the market today.
To access all fee schedules, book a demo of Dakota Marketplace!
