What do you think "conservative fund" is? It is a fund of bonds. What do you think pensions are? There is nothing more "conservative" in investing than bonds (

What do you think "conservative fund" is? It is a fund of bonds. What do you think pensions are? There is nothing more "conservative" in investing than bonds ( particularly treasury bonds ). Nobody "plants" a bond and links it to a pension. A pension buys bonds, stocks, etfs, etc which hopefully grows in value or pays healthy interest. The problem is if the pension doesn't do as well as expected or the ratio of workers to retirees gets too skewed and they can't meet their defined payouts.