Outlook for equities sours

baby boomers overpaying for assets could spark equity market decline when investors retire

Overpayment for financial assets by the baby boomer generation could spark a dramatic fall in equity prices as these investors retire, analysts at Barclays have warned. The Barclays Capital Equity Gilt Study 2005 warns there is a risk that the post-war generation, in the savings stage of life, are bidding against one another for assets and Government encouragement of people to save for retirement could be futile. Tim Bond, head of fixed income strategy at the house, said: "The prospect of increasing growth in the retired population, allied to shrinkage in the ratio of the savings age popu...