This is the time of year when those of us who do not have the luxury of a defined benefit pension scheme have to do some head-scratching.

There are some strange things going on in financial markets around the world at present. In Japan, they are thinking about issuing bonds from the government to finance infrastructure. That, in itself, is not unusual but the drop dead point is that these bonds will be purchased by the Japanese Central Bank on a non-redeemable basis. In plain language that means they need never be repaid. It is the best example I can find of so-called ‘helicopter money’ which is effectively free finance.