Pensions turning to edgier investing

The Baltimore Sun has a report on how the city of Baltimore pension funds are starting to put more in hedge funds.They aren't the only public pension fund to do that.

Up to half of the largest public pension funds - including the Massachusetts state pension, the New Mexico State Investment Council, the California Public Employees' Retirement System and the Virginia Retirement System - have money in hedge funds.

You probably don't have these options through a 401k plan at work.Are government workers better able to handle risk than people in the private sector? This all makes things very interesting since some government workers are outside the Social Security system.When you here some Congressman talking about how Social Security shouldn' be used to invest in the stock market because it's too risky,just remember this story.