Jon —

Many thanks for leaving this thoughtful and nuanced comment. It’s probably best for me to start by saying that I didn’t intend to imply that sovereign funds ought to operate as political vehicles. In fact, the opposite. The double arms length structure that NZ Super operates inside of is critical to its operations and entirely irreplaceable. Oversight drives behavior.

In characterizing these as pro-social vehicles, I meant that their time horizon opens them up to some pretty creative investing which has positive effects that are good for the world. I did not mean that they should do something akin to an infrastructure bill. These funds sometimes do buy and operate infrastructure assets for their own accounts though, and I do think that such actions can be pro-social.

The overall intent of the post was to move the conversation about retirement outside of its tired and traditional confines. I do work for CFA Institute, but I am not putting forward an official opinion. All posts on Enterprising Investor are the opinion of the author.

I hope you are somewhat less disappointed after those clarifications. I share your view that sole focus on delivering results to the end client is the only way to operate such a pool of capital.

I brought up the coin because it is a desperate solution for what I see as a desperate problem. I am 29, and will see my lifetime income shaped by the labor force dynamics I describe above. A trillion dollars raised by magic, overseen perfectly, and invested brilliantly would not be enough to prepare fully. That’s what I was trying to convey.

Thanks very much for reading and for sharing your thoughts. I appreciate both and wish you a great weekend.

Sloane