Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Private pensions to fund housing (Hold on to your shorts, IRAs & 401ks)
Times Online ^ | 5/30/10

Posted on 05/29/2010 8:57:31 PM PDT by Libloather

Private pensions to fund housing
Plan will offer lucrative returns on bonds linked to infrastructure projects
May 30, 2010

The Scottish and UK governments are to target private pension funds to raise capital for public-sector infrastructure projects.

Faced with swingeing budget cuts and a fall in bank lending, Alex Salmond and Vince Cable, the British business secretary, plan to offer private pension firms lucrative returns on government bonds linked to social housing, transport and green energy developments.

Currently, many of the funds, worth about £1 trillion, are investing in American corporate bonds that offer a higher rate of return than UK government bonds. Now ministers want to devise new investment vehicles, including bonds, providing comparable yields.

The money could be used initially to build social housing, which would ease the shortage of affordable properties and give the construction industry a welcome boost. Details of the plan are in a Scottish government discussion paper on funding new housing. It states: “There is an opportunity for institutional investors, such as pension funds and life companies, which have not traditionally funded the affordable housing sector, to consider doing so.

“Affordable housing is a low risk, ethical investment and there is the potential to develop suitable new products and routes that are attractive to institutions and other similar investors. The Scottish government is committed to removing barriers which hinder the development of new long-term funding options and put Scottish housing at a financial disadvantage.”

Scottish ministers are studying Welsh assembly plans for a housing investment trust to attract investment from pension funds and life companies.

The Welsh government believes that issuing housing bonds will help it to meet its target of building 6,500 affordable homes by next year.

(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 401k; housing; ira; pension; private; retirement
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-25 next last
Socialists really do suck.

Have a great holiday!

1 posted on 05/29/2010 8:57:31 PM PDT by Libloather
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Libloather
They are always there with the power of the government to take your stuff so they can do great things for other people.

And if you fight it, they have guns, courts, and laws.

What is the difference again between the mob and the government? I forget.

/johnny

2 posted on 05/29/2010 9:00:55 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JRandomFreeper

I think this is the tipping point, the pensions.

Those that were promised them by the municipalities that underfunded them, and the rest of us with 401k’s

Someone’s going to pay for someone else’s retirement...

Wonder who?


3 posted on 05/29/2010 9:02:54 PM PDT by IncPen (How can a man who won't produce his own documentation lecture the rest of us on immigration?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: IncPen
The problem is that the 401s are in munis.

/johnny

4 posted on 05/29/2010 9:04:16 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: JRandomFreeper
The problem is that the 401s are in munis

Mine's not.

5 posted on 05/29/2010 9:04:58 PM PDT by GreenStreak
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Libloather
Affordable housing is a low risk, ethical investment

Caveat Emptor whenever anyone is selling an "ethical investment".

6 posted on 05/29/2010 9:06:22 PM PDT by mlocher (USA is a sovereign nation)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

So the working folks in the UK who paid taxes all of their lives to support “council houses” (the projects) are having their pensions put at risk to build more free housing for whom? The ever-growing ranks of those who won’t work? Illegal immigrants?


7 posted on 05/29/2010 9:08:37 PM PDT by LibFreeOrDie (Obama promised a gold mine, but will give us the shaft.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Libloather
“Very large sums . . . currently going out of the country and buying American corporate bonds . . . should be channelled into a British institution that can function on providing infrastructure...."

Where would you put your money? In a fund investing in the bonds of S&P 500 companies paying in excess of 5% a year, or in the bond fund of a country that is going broke and paying less than 4.5% a year?

8 posted on 05/29/2010 9:09:43 PM PDT by mlocher (USA is a sovereign nation)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

From Wikipedia: “In Scotland, council estates are known as schemes.”

A fitting name...


9 posted on 05/29/2010 9:10:13 PM PDT by LibFreeOrDie (Obama promised a gold mine, but will give us the shaft.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GreenStreak
Don't you work for the man? Cop or something?

/johnny

10 posted on 05/29/2010 9:10:31 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: JRandomFreeper
What is the difference again between the mob and the government? I forget.

The mob is trying to make a profit and looks out for itself.

11 posted on 05/29/2010 9:10:45 PM PDT by mlocher (USA is a sovereign nation)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: LibFreeOrDie
Yep, they're screwed until they make a council bonfire.And that isn't likely to happen.

johnny

12 posted on 05/29/2010 9:11:47 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: JRandomFreeper
Don't you work for the man? Cop or something?

Nope.

13 posted on 05/29/2010 9:58:38 PM PDT by GreenStreak
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: JRandomFreeper
The problem is that the 401s are in munis

Mine's not. Don't you work for the man? Cop or something?

Your post makes no sense.

14 posted on 05/29/2010 10:03:20 PM PDT by GreenStreak
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: JRandomFreeper

what the diff between the Mob and the Govt?
The Mob would run the Govt more honestly and competently.


15 posted on 05/29/2010 10:07:47 PM PDT by OldArmy52 (Democratics' Obama Cr*pcare: the gift that stinks more and more.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

Oh yea, this will end well.


16 posted on 05/29/2010 10:10:41 PM PDT by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Libloather
When I worked for the Austin Fire Department, the city manager, Jorge Carasco, ordered our pension fund to provide "low cost housing loans to people who could not obtain financing through normal channels." The pension fund told him to pound sand. 30% of our pay went into the pension fund, and after those payments, the fund was totally self-supporting, meaning when a fire department employee retired, his pension was covered by the investments made from his contributions.

This was nearly twenty years ago. Governmental agencies will try to steal every pile of money they can find.

17 posted on 05/29/2010 10:13:13 PM PDT by Richard Kimball (We're all criminals. They just haven't figured out what some of us have done yet.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LibFreeOrDie
"So the working folks in the UK who paid taxes all of their lives"

Yup, you got it, that appears to be the plan. The only real money left is in pension plans so naturally our "leaders" will find all sorts of ways to "invest" it.

18 posted on 05/29/2010 10:13:41 PM PDT by jpsb (bump)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: IncPen; Liz; AT7Saluki; writer33
Someone’s going to pay for someone else’s retirement...

...swingeing budget cuts...

Wasn't that in a Wayne's World movie?

19 posted on 05/29/2010 10:24:22 PM PDT by Libloather (Tea totaler, PROUD birther, mobster, pro-lifer, anti-warmer, enemy of the state, extremist....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Libloather; All
To save you looking it up...:^)

Adj. 1. swingeing - severe; punishingly bad; “swingeing taxation”; “swingeing damages awarded by the judge”

20 posted on 05/29/2010 10:59:10 PM PDT by az_gila (AZ - one Governor down... we don't want her back...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-25 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson