The story of the world's first investment fund

The origin of the first idea similar to a fund, happened in 1653, in France, where Lorenzo de Tonti created the Tontines. In Tontinas, each participant had to pay an entrance fee. All participants had the amount of capital invested. Each of the members of a Tontina, could benefit from the profit of these investments, until the end of his life. When a participant died, the other members of the group divided their amount. After the success of the Tontines, Lorenzo proposed to Cardinal Mazarino the issuance of a national loan based on the mechanism of financial insurance. Whoever hired him had to pay a certain amount to the French State, which in return would pay a lifetime annuity to the creditor. These were divided by age, and just like in the tontines, with the death of each one of them, their annuities would be divided among the rest of the group, until the death of the last one, when the State would finalize the payments. Initially, they rejected the proposal, being accepted and implemented in 1689. This national loan was considered the first investment fund.