The UT System General Endowment Fund (GEF) was established March 1, 2001 and provides a pooled investment vehicle for the Permanent Health Fund (PHF) and the UT System Long Term Fund (LTF). The GEF's creation allowed the PHF and LTF to benefit from their identical investment objectives by providing greater efficiencies and cost savings than was possible when the investments were managed separately.

The GEF functions similar to a mutual fund in which the PHF and LTF purchase and redeem units quarterly at the GEF's market value price per unit.  GEF reports provide information on various investment details of the PHF's and the LTF's ownership interests in the GEF.

The GEF's primary investment objective is to maximize investment returns within the risk parameters specified in the GEF Investment Policy Statement without regard to the distribution rate.  The GEF is invested in a broad mix of investments and is actively managed to its policy portfolio or benchmark. UTIMCO allocates the GEF’s assets to internally and externally managed portfolios in accordance with guidelines approved in the GEF Investment Policy Statement.