Heard that OMERS lost $8 billion last year. Bad enough that private sector pension plans are tanking but looks like public sector pension plans aren't doing all that great either. Who will fund the OMERS shortfall?
OMERS Pension
- Thread starter Rockslinger
- Start date
Cycleguy007
Banned
Rockslinger said:
Oh that's an easy one rock... you and me and every other taxpayer in the province!
Cycleguy007 said:
But, but I am currently "between projects". People "between projects" don't pay a lot of taxes. You'll have to shoulder the burden for the two of us. Get a larger bike.
Rockslinger said:
Mostly they will raise the contribution rates for employee's. But that does not make you unhappy so we will just blame them and say the taxpayers.
A lot of pension funds invested heavy in energy stocks to keep high earnings. Stock markets crash, pension funds tank. Name any investment guru who made money, lots parked it out of the market to avoid heavy losses but that is not an option for funds that rely on generating money....
squash500 said:It shows you that even these financial gurus from OMERS can screw up just like the rest of us.
It seems that the best financial minds that money can buy lost 15.8% in managing the OMERS investment portfolio for the 2008 calendar year!
Not bad considering that the TSX is down almost 50%.
euripides said:
She who loses least, wins! I love it! And the winner is OMERS with a loss of 15%.
dcbogey said:
Dow is not at a 12 year low. Dow is not at a 12 year low. Dow is not at a 12 year low. Hey, I think it is working. Dow is not at a 12 year low.
euripides said:
To be honest, I'm not really concerned about 3,999,900 of those years.
Seriously, I do feel sorry for those people who thought they were "prudently investing" in equities during the past 5-6 years to provide for their family's future (university tuition for the kids and all that). They worked, they paid taxes, they did not spend their money like drunken sailors, they "invested", they don't deserve what is happening to them.
Rockslinger said:
They worked, they paid their taxes - good for them. Too many people want to blame their advisor - and I'm NOT saying some of them shouldn't be blamed - when they themselves took little or no interest in what their financial situation was. Somewhere along the line caveat epmtor seems to have been lost.
dcbogey said:
Here is the logic. OMERS has an $8 billion pothole. Are they just going to leave that hole there? Or, will they top it up? If they top it up, from where will come the money? That is the $8 billion question.
Any money invested is a risk no matter who you know, unless it is insider information that you received. But of course that never happens. 
Making money on investments is all on paper, until it is cashed in, and then and only then can it be consider profit. During the heyday of Bre-X there was a whole town in northern Alberta that were millionaires, and in the blink of an eye they weren't anymore.
It kills me that there are people out there that think they deserve to be making money when they invest in the market. Can you make money? Sure. But will most people, more than likely not. How does that saying go, oh yeah, "Don't count your chickens,till they are hatched." If anyone is stupid enough to think that their investments will guarantee them a bright, rosy, future, then i have some nice land down in southern Florida, as well as this bridge in Brooklyn for sale.
Making money on investments is all on paper, until it is cashed in, and then and only then can it be consider profit. During the heyday of Bre-X there was a whole town in northern Alberta that were millionaires, and in the blink of an eye they weren't anymore. It kills me that there are people out there that think they deserve to be making money when they invest in the market. Can you make money? Sure. But will most people, more than likely not. How does that saying go, oh yeah, "Don't count your chickens,till they are hatched." If anyone is stupid enough to think that their investments will guarantee them a bright, rosy, future, then i have some nice land down in southern Florida, as well as this bridge in Brooklyn for sale.
Rockslinger said:
It's not how much OMERS is worth, it's whether they meet their financial obligation to cover the pensions and administration costs. That is a more important statistic.
If they have a shortfall they make an increase in contributions, if they have an excess they can freeze payments (have done so in past). They are only allowed to operate at a maximum of 115% of their obligation before freezes are legislated. The real question is not how much they are valued at, but how much of their obligation can they cover.
A lot of pension funds were high when stocks were high, and they would have had to adjust if the funds had been listed high when they did their annual review.
