Sovereign Wealth Funds- To anyone still trying to understand the concept

As a struggling stand-up comedian with two Master’s degrees in Economics, and NOT Funny yet. I feel like I have a civic duty to offer something useful. Knowledge, maybe. Perspective, at the very least. So let’s talk about sovereign wealth funds, not through charts or fancy terms, but through something most of us already understand: love. Because as strange as it sounds, the way sovereign funds work is far more similar to relationships than you might expect.

At their core, ideally, sovereign wealth funds are built from surplus: oil money, trade gains, national savings. Smart countries invest that surplus for growth, stability, and the long term. Norway does this brilliantly. Singapore, strategically. Indonesia has one now, Danantara, a promising move, on paper.

Sovereign Wealth Funds – Fundamental is Key 

But, if you build from debt and the foundation is shaky, no amount of branding will make up for what’s missing underneath, and NOT every country can do it right. Malaysia sovereign fund, 1MDB, famously financed by significant debt, became a cautionary tale of mismanagement, scandal, and missing billions. Some funds lack structure, transparency, or discipline. Decisions are made based on ego, urgency, or optics. Money disappears, and the people those meant to benefit are left with nothing but hope. That kind of mismanagement doesn’t just destabilize economies. It ruins the whole thing.

And it shows up in relationships too. You can have all the emotional surplus in the world, kindness, trust, time, but if you give it to someone with no long-term plan, it drains fast. You’re not building. You’re bleeding.

Situationships are no different. They are trade agreements with no signatures. Lots of exchange, no protection, no label, no terms, just vibes and a quiet decline in value. Even well-managed funds face pressure. Markets crash, tariffs appear overnight. (Remember Trump’s?) A tantrum dressed as policy can destabilize an entire system.

Sovereign Wealth Funds & Relationship

Love works the same way. It gets tested, by distance, discomfort, real life. The question is:

Did you build reserves? Or did you just hope things wouldn’t fall apart?

Here’s the truth, mismanagement doesn’t always look reckless, sometimes it looks like ambition,  or charm, or “we’re figuring it out.” Or something that sounds promising on paper.

If you keep ending up emotionally bankrupt, the issue may not be how much you give. It might be who you’ve trusted to manage the future. Because national wealth, like love, requires more than potential. It needs structure, strategy, and someone who knows how to hold value when things get hard.

The most valuable thing you have isn’t your time. It’s your emotional energy, where you place it, how you protect it, and who you trust to manage it. Sovereign funds aren’t about spending, they’re about strategy. They exist to secure the future, not react to the present, but not every country manages its wealth wisely. Some pour resources into vanity projects, others ignore accountability, spend like the surplus will last forever, then blame the storm when it all falls apart.

You’ve probably dated someone like that. Charming on the outside. Chaotic underneath. No plan, no structure, just charisma and empty promises.

A lot of things look promising on paper, but without discipline and integrity, they don’t hold much at all.