Consider alternative investments for your intermediate-term goals like short-term bond funds, municipal bond funds or income funds that include dividend-paying stocks in the mix but watch for bonds with long maturities.

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And if asset managers turn en masse to bonds with long maturities to match their assets and liabilities more precisely, which is necessary especially for older plans, that will raise bond prices, depress bond yields and increase the present value of assets they must hold again, widening the pensions gap.

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As I have pointed out here before, if the Debt Management Office hadn't done quite such a brilliant job in borrowing for long maturities - such that the average maturity of UK debt is just under 14 years - the UK might well be like Italy in finding it very hard to borrow at any price right now.

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The liquidity and trading in those older issues is so tiny that it doesn't give much guidance as to the potential cost for the government of borrowing substantial sums at what are known as ultra long maturities - but for what it's worth the 1932 war loan pays an implicit interest rate of 3.9% at its current price.

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European countries have to pay more interest on their foreign debts than Brazil does for similar long dated maturities.

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The ability of banks to borrow at long-term maturities from investors appears to be getting more difficult.

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So, Mr. Noonan continued, he's planning two nine-year bond auctions to demonstrate his country can borrow for the long term, not just at short maturities.

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And, the only way to borrow long-term in a rising rate environment is to offer risk-averse investors higher coupons on bonds with extended maturities.

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