出国留学首选一诺留学

　　中英文本

　　Pensions

　　养老金

　　Pot luck

　　随用随取的钱罐

　　The chancellor hands more freedom to retirees

　　财政大臣给予退休人员更多的自由

　　GET out those cruise brochures—retirees may soonbe going on a spending spree. Historically, most Britons with personal pensions and those inso-called “defined-contribution” schemes have been forced to use their pension pots to buyan annuity—a product paying a (normally fixed) income for the rest of their lives. These havenever been popular. Money invested in an annuity is locked away and cannot be passed on tothe retiree's heirs. Recently, low interest rates and longer lifespans have caused annuity ratesto fall sharply. Last month the Financial Conduct Authority, Britain's regulator, concluded thatthe annuity market “is not working well for consumers”.

　　现在出现了那种旅行宣传册—退休人员可能很快过上肆意狂欢的生活。回首过去，大多数拥有个人退休金的英国人和那些所谓的“界定供款计划”(即雇主或雇员将资金投入某个计划，由基金管理人员利用此投资进行市场运作)的参与者，都被强制去用他们的退休金购买年金—是一种定期投入资金并且终生可定期领取一定金额的计划。但这些并不被大众接受，因为用于年金投资的钱都是被限制的，子女并不能作为接受者。而近期，低利率和较长的使用期使得年金利率大幅下降。英国的监管机构—金融服务监督局，于上月宣布“年金计划和消费者相处的并不融洽”。

　　Few anticipated George Osborne's sweeping response. In his budget speech, the chancelloroutlined a plan to do away with the requirement to buy an annuity and all the arcane rules thataccompany it. Retirees will be free to draw down their pension pot as they like, subject topaying tax at their marginal rate. That will bring Britain into line with other countries includingAmerica, Australia and Denmark.

　　几乎没有人预料到乔治·奥斯本的全面响应。在这位财政大臣的预算中，提出了一个废除任何购买年金以及与年金相关的计划。在他们以边际税率来缴税限制下，退休人员可以自由减少退休金的入资。这一举措使得英国与美国、澳大利亚和丹麦等国家面临同一处境。

　　It may prove a popular idea, but is it a good one? Pensions get generous tax treatment toencourage people to provide for retirement; if they blow their pension pot on a Maserati, theymay end up as wards of the state, particularly in their later years when many will needexpensive care in nursing homes.

　　这可能是一个大众喜闻乐见的决策，但这是否是一个明智的决策呢?养老金得到了慷慨的税收优惠待遇，这促进了人们积极为退休做准备;但如果他们肆意挥霍他们的退休金，他们可能会在国家的病房中结束一生，特别是当他们在晚年可能需要昂贵的医疗护理。