超级养老金

　　In Australia’s superannuation scheme, everyone’s a winner

　　澳洲养老金计划，全盘皆赢家

　　May 26th 2011 | from the print edition

　　TWENTY YEARS OF reform in Australia did not roll off without resistance, so sweeteners were needed to buy off opposition. One of the most inspired was superannuation, a long word meaning private pension provision that the all-abbreviating Aussies call their “super”. Used in the 1970s and 1980s to please trade unionists (and helping to keep a lid on inflation), it has turned into the financial equivalent of the Swiss army knife, with a multiplicity of benefits.

　　澳大利亚在20年改革推进中并不是没有阻力，因此得给反对派一些甜头来收买他们。最成功之一是退休金政策，这一个长词指的是个人退休保障基金，澳洲人惯用其简略词“超级”。此政策是在70年代和80年代为了取悦于当时的工会出台的（有助于控制通货膨胀），它在金融中似乎变得跟瑞士军刀一样超有用，具有多样性的助益。

　　In 1992 the Keating government made it mandatory for employers to pay a proportion of the wages of all but the very lowest-paid workers into a superannuation account. The payment, which was tax-deductible, was to rise in annual steps to 9%, where it is today, though by 2019 it should be 12%. Employees choose the funds that receive their payments.

　　在1992年基廷政府强制雇主按最低薪资的部分比例支付到养老金专户。这部分支出是免税的，至今年该比例达到9%，并逐年有所递增，计划到2019年达到12%。雇员可选择不同种养老基金接收该款项。

　　The upshot is that most Australian workers, over 8m in total, now have a private nest-egg for their old age. No tax is paid when members withdraw from their fund; they can take all they want as a lump sum, subject to a limit, or buy an annuity. Aussies are now a nation of capitalists.

　　其结果是，大多数澳洲就业者，总数超过800万人，现在人人都有个人储备帐户为他们老有所依。当他们提取养老基金款项时不用缴税（到退休年纪）；他们可以按限额一次提取，也可以按年份提取。澳洲人现在人人都俨然一个资本家。

　　At the same time the state pension system, and therefore the taxpayer, is being progressively relieved of most of the burden of retirement provision, since eligibility for the state pension depends on both assets and income. As supers take over, the provision for old folks’ incomes will be almost entirely based on defined contributions, not defined benefits. So Australia is in the happy position of not having to worry too much about the pension implications of an ageing population, though it may have a problem for six or seven years after 2014 when the post-war baby-boomers stop work with supers only half filled.

　　与此同时，养老基金制度正在逐步减轻政府对退休保障的负担，因为养老金同时取决于资产和收入二项，因此纳税人不用为日益增多的退休人群所带来的社会负担感到担忧。由于养老基金将负责支出这部分开支，老年人群将从中获取保障，此项养老基金将取决于个人历史贡献，而不是直接界定收益。因此，澳大利亚人应该高兴，他们不必担心人口老龄化所带的养老问题。虽然在2014年后可能因战后婴儿潮的影响，预计有六七年时间内，养老基金只能补充一半的养老金需求。

　　The supers have not pushed up the savings rate, but nor have they increased unit labour costs. Instead, they have created a pool of capital in Australia that might not otherwise have existed. Collectively worth about $1.3 trillion—much the same as GDP—they have made Australia the world’s fourth-largest market for pension savings. About 40% of their investments are in Australia, but they are free to invest where they like. Investment managers are coming to Sydney from all over, drawn by the prospect of ten $100 billion pension funds within 20 years—a fillip for Australia’s financial-services industry.

　　此养老基金项目没有推高储蓄利率，也没有增加单位劳动成本。相反地，此政策在澳大利亚造就了一个前所未有的资本池，其总值约1.3万亿澳元，几乎等同于澳国内生产总值。此举让澳大利亚的养老金储蓄达到全球第四位。养老基金约有40％投资于澳大利亚本土，可非常自由地投资于任何领域。世界各地的投资经理来到了悉尼，预计将在20年内把一千亿美元养老基金通过投资增值10个百分点，这亦使澳大利亚的金融服务业取得了激增。