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Speaker 1: Welcome to Ask Fear and Greed, where we answer questions

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Speaker 1: about business, investing, economics, politics and more. I'm Michael Thompson

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Speaker 1: and hello Sean Aleman. Michael, this one, this question actually

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Speaker 1: combines a few of those areas, doesn't that it does.

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Speaker 1: It's a two part question which somehow you were going

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Speaker 1: to be able to turn into like an eighteen partner,

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Speaker 1: so you have a unique ability to extend it. What

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Speaker 1: is a sovereign wealth fund? And the second part is

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Speaker 1: why don't we talk about ours? Very often? I know

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Speaker 1: we do, but not hugely.

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Speaker 2: So sovereign wealth fund or an investment fund is basically

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Speaker 2: just a state owned institution that invests in assets to

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Speaker 2: make a return to hopefully fund future investing in a country.

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Speaker 2: Now mostly mostly not always they're the result of some

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Speaker 2: big wind for fish or something like that. So our

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Speaker 2: sovereign well fund is the future fund. It's got about

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Speaker 2: two hundred and forty billion dollars in it. Over ten years,

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Speaker 2: it's returning about eight percent. I'm pretty good all round.

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Speaker 2: Do you remember, why, Michael, where the money came from? Oh?

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Speaker 1: Yes, it was from the sale.

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Speaker 2: Oh nice of.

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Speaker 1: M Telstra.

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Speaker 2: Yes was it? Yes? Yes? Yes, oh yes, I.

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Speaker 1: Know that it was the coalition government that set it up,

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Speaker 1: and I'm not trying to remember what happened during that.

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Speaker 2: Time Tellstra and then they had a bunch of surpluses

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Speaker 2: in the mid noughties under Costello and Howard and they

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Speaker 2: actually added more to it. So that's where our future

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Speaker 2: fund came from. Now, turn of forty billions seems like

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Speaker 2: a lot, well not really. The Norwegian Severn Well Fund

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Speaker 2: one point seven trillion US. What's that about two and

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Speaker 2: a half trillion, ten times larger than the Australian someone

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Speaker 2: will fund.

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Speaker 1: And is that what natural resources based?

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Speaker 2: Yep, they took it out and Norwegian I mean they've

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Speaker 2: done a lot in investing in renewable energy and stuff

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Speaker 2: like that. That FUN has one and a half percent

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Speaker 2: of the world's listed companies. Like if you think of

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Speaker 2: all the listed companies in the world, that FUN owns

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Speaker 2: one and a half percent of the which is amazing.

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Speaker 2: It's worth about three hundred and twenty five thousand dollars

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Speaker 2: per Norwegian citizen. Wow, yeah, it is huge.

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Speaker 1: You know, I'm loving this because so far you have

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Speaker 1: dropped three separate little trivia nuggets that can use that

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Speaker 1: could actually help someone at a pub trivia night.

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Speaker 2: So what's the second largest. I'm just trying to catch

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Speaker 2: you out.

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Speaker 1: No, no, okay, I would say maybe Middle maybe Saudi.

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Speaker 2: That's a good guess. Yeh, no, you're wrong, but all right, okay. Now,

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Speaker 2: so China actually has the second and third largest sovereign

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Speaker 2: wealth funds, which if you put together, because they're sovereal

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Speaker 2: wealth funds, so you think you could, that'd come in

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Speaker 2: at about two point four trillion, which is actually bigger

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Speaker 2: than Norway. But then Aba, Dhabi, Qwait, Saudi Arabia. These

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Speaker 2: are all the oil money. Ye Indo has got to

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Speaker 2: Indonesia's got a massive one. Really, I don't know where

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Speaker 2: that was funded. Oh there you go.

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Speaker 1: That's fascinating.

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Speaker 2: It is some wealth funds.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And in terms of the reason why we don't

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Speaker 1: talk about it that much, we do actually when it's

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Speaker 1: when it comes upright.

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Speaker 2: But beneath that part of the question is really it's

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Speaker 2: very relevant because not everyone is a fan of a

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Speaker 2: sovereign wealth fund, like they have very few fudiciary duties

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Speaker 2: and reporting obligations. It's not always that clear where the

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Speaker 2: money's invested. So criticism of the future fund that's two

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Speaker 2: hundred and forty billion dollars. Maybe we should make schools

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Speaker 2: and you know, hospitals and stuff like that using that

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Speaker 2: two hundred and forty billion dollars. Then the Future Fund

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Speaker 2: does a pretty good job telling as person. But it

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Speaker 2: doesn't have to. And so one of the criticisms of

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Speaker 2: future funds is that there's not enough rules regulating.

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Speaker 1: Them, not enough transparency.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so the argument for not having a future fund is, well, no,

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Speaker 2: and why should my money's actually own the future fund?

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Speaker 2: Say to use that as every listen and that it's

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Speaker 2: an Australian citizen owns the future fund. Why should we

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Speaker 2: be forced putting into that. That's a great question, excellent question.

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Speaker 1: Oh gosh, I've learned some stuff today.

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Speaker 2: Some trivia. Yes, like if.

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Speaker 1: You go to the most boring trivia night and they're

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Speaker 1: dropping questions about Sovereign Wealth Fund, beautiful, like you are

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Speaker 1: going to nail that ran. Yeah, yep, that is outstanding,

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Speaker 1: good one, Sean.

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Speaker 2: Great answer, Thank you very much, Thank you, Michael.

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Speaker 1: And remember if you have your own question that you

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Speaker 1: would like maybe if there is something that really stumps

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Speaker 1: you at a trivia night and you think you know

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Speaker 1: what I could ask Google or I could ask sure

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Speaker 1: an a for it's like a longer answer that Send

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Speaker 1: it on through via the website to Fear and Greed

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Speaker 1: dot com dot au, or head along to any of

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Speaker 1: the social media platforms LinkedIn Instagram, Facebook and send us

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Speaker 1: through the message and we will, we will jump onto it.

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Speaker 1: I'm Michael Thompson and this is ask Fear and Greed