Marketing Alternative Investments: A Comprehensive Guide to Fundraising and Investor Relations for Private Equity and Hedge Funds

CHAPTER 2

Pension Funds

Pensions are pools of funds that provide periodic payments to individuals to support them in retirement, and are usually provided by an employer or a government. But this seemingly generous program has a much craftier origin. In the first century BCE, Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar worried that idle, retired soldiers presented a risk of revolt against the empire, given their skills and organization.¹ To earn their enduring loyalty—as well as keep them in the army ranks longer—he rationalized that a bounty payment would keep ...