Are hedge funds retirement funds?

(This was written to answer a common question being raised in reaction to the 2021 Hedge Fund Contraction.)

Generally, no. While you can invest in a hedge fund as part of your retirement planning, a "retirement fund," like an IRA, is not a hedge fund, and its assets are protected in numerous ways.

While the shorting of a stock can cause volatility in an IRA's holdings, they are significantly more diversified than hedge funds, even in equivalent risk margins.

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All that said, all investment relies on interest-bearing debt and so is super-duper evil so like Iunno what people are doing relying on abject evil for their survival when there are people willing to practice mutualism around them, but hey? If you wanna frown at some people expressing class consciousness because you like to ignore your role in class warfare? You do you, ducky!