VOA慢速英语20060317a

ECONOMICS REPORT - Saving More for RetirementBy Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Friday, March 17, 2006

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

One of the most important questions a worker can ask is: Will I have enough money for retirement¹?

For more than thirty years, Americans have used individual retirement accounts, or IRAs, to increase retirement savings². Today, there are several plans that let workers invest. The plans also offer tax savings.


For more than 30 years, Americans have used IRAs to increase retirement savings.

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of nineteen seventy-four provided for the first IRAs. It set rules for retirement plans run by big businesses. Other measures provided for individuals who did not qualify for such plans, called pensions.

The first kind of IRA is now called a traditional IRA. A worker can put up to four thousand dollars of his or her yearly earnings³ into a special account. Workers over the age of fifty can invest four thousand five hundred dollars. Unlike a pension, the saver controls the account and decides how it is invested.

Money put in a traditional IRA is not taxed until it is withdrawn⁴. But, savings cannot be withdrawn before the account holder⁵ is fifty-nine and one-half years old. If the money is withdrawn before that time, it is taxed like income and there is a ten percent fine. The account holder must start withdrawals⁶ by age seventy and one-half or there also are fines.

At first, IRAs were only for people not covered by pensions at work. But in nineteen eighty-one, everyone could to open an IRA. Six years later, congress banned highly paid individuals from claiming tax reductions.

A Roth IRA is a similar plan. Workers can invest up to four thousand dollars of earnings yearly. But there is no tax savings on the year's earnings. Instead, withdrawals from a Roth IRA are generally not taxed.

Roth IRA withdrawals cannot start until the saver is fifty-nine and one half years old. There are also fines for putting too much money in them. But people over seventy can still invest.

Small businesses can also set up a kind of IRA. Simplified Employee Pensions, or SEP IRAs, have elements of both traditional IRAs and pensions.

SEP IRAs are simple investment accounts controlled by the saver. And, like pension plans, employers add money to them too. Limits on these accounts are higher. A worker and an employer can invest twenty-five percent of the employee's yearly pay up to forty-two thousand dollars. The money is not taxed until it is withdrawn.

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember. Our reports are online at www.unsv.com.

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 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。

3 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

4 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

5 holder   

n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物

参考例句：

• The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
• That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。

6 withdrawals   

n.收回，取回，撤回( withdrawal的名词复数 )；撤退，撤走；收回[取回，撤回，撤退，撤走]的实例；推出（组织），提走（存款），戒除毒瘾，对说过的话收回，孤僻

参考例句：

• He has made several withdrawals from his bank account. 他从银行账户上提了几次款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It is not the bank's policy to deduct interest on withdrawals. 提款需扣除利息这并非是本银行的政策。 来自辞典例句