VOA慢速英语20060324a

ECONOMICS REPORT - Saving for Retirement¹, Part 2By Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Friday, March 24, 2006

I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Many workers depend on plans offered by their employers to help pay for their retirement. There are two major kinds of retirement plans. One is defined by what is paid out, the other by what is paid in.

The first is called a defined benefit plan, or pension. It provides set payments based on the number of years an employee has worked. These plans often pay for health care and other costs. They might also provide money to family members when the pensioner² dies.

Pensions, however, can be a big cost to employers. In the United States, the change from a manufacturing economy to a service economy has resulted in fewer and fewer traditional plans.

In nineteen seventy-four, the Employment Retirement Income Act set rules to protect pensions. That law also created a federal agency called the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

On Thursday its executive director announced that he will leave at the end of May. Bradley Belt has led the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation for two years. During that period the agency had to deal with a record level of pension plan failures.

As a result, it is now responsible for the current and future pensions of more than one million workers. At the end of last September, it reported a deficit³ of almost twenty-three thousand million dollars in its single-employer insurance program.

The agency takes control of pensions that do not have enough money to pay claims. It currently guarantees thirty thousand plans. Forty-four million Americans are in these plans. But there are limits to how much they can receive if their pension fails.

The other major kind of retirement plan is called a defined contribution plan. Two things define how much a worker will get at retirement. The first is how much both the worker and the employer paid into the plan. The other is the performance of its investments.

One popular version is a four-oh-one-k plan, named after a part of the tax law. It offers investments for workers to put money into. Their employer usually adds to the savings⁴.

Defined contribution plans can reduce the taxes of workers and employers.

But some plans are very complex. An easier way for small employers to offer retirement savings is through a Savings Incentive⁵ Match Plan. It permits contributions of up to ten thousand dollars a year toward retirement.

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. Read and listen to our reports at www.unsv.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

2 pensioner   

n.领养老金的人

参考例句：

• The tax threshold for a single pensioner is$ 445.单身领退休年金者的纳税起点为445英镑。
• It was the pensioner's vote late in the day that influenced the election of Mr.Sweet.最后是领取养老金者的选票影响了斯威特先生的当选。

3 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

4 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

5 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。