Brian Potter

Dont misunderstand me - I dont think the market can go up. Common sense tells me that if house prices have gone up by 70% where I live but salaries have gone up by around 5% in the same period there must be some very big mortgages floating around because the problem becomes expedential the higher the property value. I would rather lose 10% of a £60 house than 10% of a £300K house. My query on the SIPPS stuff was as to whether the market would reduce by as much as some predictions if this money was filtered into the market - mainly at FTB level.

Thanks for that. Obviously this topic has been aired before on the forum. As I say I'm sitting on the fence at the moment because cash is considerably harder to earn than to spend. Pensions - a proper puzzler!

As I have said on a seperate thread - this is the biggest crisis facing this country today in my opinion. Anybody either approaching or already retired are in a relatively good position. Conversely, anyone under the age of 45 has problems.

Is it not possible that the govt could change the rules to allow transfer of traditional pension 'pots' in to SIPPS? After all most people could not **** it up any worse than the financial institutions.

Hi, Never heard of this site before and just stumbled into a forum of people with the same healthily cynical view of the market as I have. Good stuff. A question if I may. I have been watching the market from the sidelines with growing disbelief over the past 2-3 years and have long been convinced that people are getting caught up in a kind of 'gold fever' just as in the late 80's and early nineties. I am naturally more sceptical of trends due to seeing the effect that the early mid nineties crash had on my industry (construction) and on my family - once bitten and all that. However, one or to things seem to be different. The economy is much more stable and people are realising the pension situation is going tits-up. Now sooner or later the general public at large will realise the pensions problem is real for EVERYONE, yes even those in 'safe' public sector areas such as teachers and police. This will be IMO the biggest bombshell to hit people in decades. I, like many others have realised that if I want a decent retirement either my pot has got to be huge or I will need a business of some kind to generate income after I retire. Simple enough. This is where I heard about Self Invested Pension Plans (SIPPS) I have no doubt that most of you are aware of this type of plan - as by nature you must be relatively financially astute or you would not be interested in this site. At the moment I know that private residential property is not allowed as part of a private SIPPs portfolio, however , I am also aware of the Government is contemplasting relaxing this barrier if the financial gearing is not above 50%. My point and question is - If this happens potentially billions of pounds of transfered pension monies could buy residential property which would effectively attract tax relief (as would a normal pension) thus flooding the market with cash and driving up the value of already overpriced properties. What is this likelyhood? I am firmly sat on the fence with my money in the bank and would welcome any advice. Thanks.