Your money and your life
IN 1965 ANDRÉ-FRANÇOIS RAFFRAY, a 47-year-old lawyer in southern France, made the deal of a lifetime. Charmed by an apartment in Arles, he persuaded the widow living there that if he paid her 2,500 francs (then about $500) a month until she died, she would leave it to him in her will.Since she was already 90, it seemed like a safe bet. Thirty years later Mr Raffray was dead and the widow, Jeanne Louise Calment, was still going strong. When she eventually passed away at 122, having become the world’s oldest person, the Raffray family had paid her more than twice the value of the house.
1965年，法國南部一名47歲的律師安德雷-弗朗索瓦·拉弗雷（André-François Raffray）做了一筆一輩子的交易。他鐘情於阿爾勒的一間公寓，並說服了住在那裡的寡婦：如果他每個月支付2,500法郎（約合500美元）直到她去世，她將會在遺囑中把公寓留給他。由於她已經90歲了，這似乎是一個穩贏的賭注。30年後，拉弗雷先生去世，而寡婦讓·路易斯·卡爾芒（Jeanne Louise Calment）依然生氣勃勃。當她最終於122歲去世時，她是世界上年紀最大的人，而拉弗雷家族向她支付的金額超過了公寓價值的兩倍。
Underestimating how long someone will live can be costly, as overgenerous governments and indebted private pension schemes have been discovering. They are struggling to meet promises made in easier times. Public pensions are still the main source of income for the over-65s across the OECD, but there are big differences between countries (see chart). In both America and Britain public provision replaces around 40% of previous earnings, but in some European countries it can be 80% or more. Where it makes up a big share of total pension income, as in Italy, Portugal and Greece,a shrinking workforce will increasingly struggle to finance a bulging group of pensioners.
低估一個人能活多久可能要付出高昂的代價，而過度大方的政府和負債累累的私人養老金計劃似乎已經發現了這一點。日子好過時做出的承諾，如今履行起來卻痛苦不堪。在所有的經合組織國家，公共養老金仍然是65歲以上老人的主要收入來源，但各國之間存在著很大的差異（見圖表）。在美國和英國，公共經費能夠替代工作時收入的40%左右，但在一些歐洲國家這個比例可以達到80%甚至更高。在意大利、葡萄牙和希臘這樣的國家，公共經費佔到了養老金總收入中很大一部分，不斷萎縮的勞動力將越來越難以支撐日益膨脹的退休群體。
Private pension schemes, which supplement state provision, have been shifting from defined-benefit plans, where workers are promised a fixed amount of income in retirement,to defined-contribution plans, where workers themselves take on the risk.Such schemes are good for employers but tricky for individuals, who become personally responsible for ensuring they do not outlive their savings. The new stage of life now emerging between work and old age adds a further complication.To accommodate these changes, the financial industry needs an overhaul.
作為國家發放養老金的補充，私人養老金計劃已經從保證員工退休後獲得固定收入的固定收益計劃，逐漸轉向員工自行承擔風險的固定繳費計劃。這樣的計劃有利於僱主，但對個人而言則比較棘手，因為他們要自行承擔確保儲蓄足夠花銷的責任。如今，在工作年齡與老年之間出現的新的人生階段讓情況變得愈發複雜。為適應這些變化，金融業需要一場徹底的變革。
文編|包文潔
排版|趙靜旭
審校|杜好雨
閱讀更多 濱外翻譯社 的文章
