“我根本没钱！” 养老金、储蓄、汽车保险、能源等基础理财特别节目

你还会得到第一年那100英镑利息所产生的利息。

You also get interest on the £100 interest you earned in the first year.

由于利滚利，你的钱在七年之内就能翻倍，因为复利会让一切增长得更快。

You would have doubled your money within seven years because of the interest on the interest means everything grows quicker.

我宁愿要一个不完美的第75条，也不要完全没有。

I would prefer an imperfect Section 75 to no Section 75.

这不是那种你能拿在手里、实实在在的东西。

It's not something physical that you can hold in your hand or, you know, something.

你好。

Hello.

我是马丁·刘易斯，欢迎收听这个巧妙命名的《马丁·刘易斯播客》。

I'm Martin Lewis, this is the cunningly named The MartinLewisPodcast.

我真好奇这期会讲些什么。

I do wonder what that's gonna be about.

今天这期是个特别节目，专门聊钱的事。

And today, it's an I don't get money pod only special.

我想请你告诉我，金融方面有哪些东西是你怎么也搞不明白的。

I ask you to tell me what are the things about finance you just can't get your head around.

今天呢，我会试着帮你把这些弄清楚。

And today, I'm gonna try and help you understand it.

就是从最基础的部分重新讲起。

A back to basics if you like.

我们会讨论的问题包括：养老金到底是怎么运作的？

And the questions we're gonna cover include, how do pensions work?

当你收到电费账单的时候，

When you get an energy bill?

到底什么是‘一度电’？

What is a unit of energy actually?

储蓄和投资之间有什么区别？

What is the difference between saving and investing?

投资不就是赌博吗？

And isn't investing just gambling?

为什么第75条信用卡保护不涵盖附加持卡人？

Why doesn't Section 75 credit card protection include additional cardholders?

为什么我出了无责事故，车险费用反而上涨？

Why does my car insurance cost go up if I have a no fault accident?

商品有质量问题，该由谁负责？

Who is responsible for faulty items?

是零售商负责，还是制造商负责？

Is it the retailer or is it the manufacturer?

最后，什么是债券？

And finally, what is a bond?

播放主题曲。

Play the theme tune.

今天咱们只做音频节目，这期是专门解答疑问的。

Okay, so we're pod only today and this is a teller special.

主题就是：你对钱有哪些搞不懂的地方？我们会一一聊聊各种问题。

It's all about what do you not get about money and we're going to go through a whole potpourri of subjects.

我之前特别问过大家，关于钱、个人理财和消费者权益，到底哪些地方让你怎么也想不明白？

Now, what I specifically put out is I asked you, what is it about money, personal finance and consumer rights that you just can't get your head around?

这周我们回归基础，用简单实用的方式一一解释清楚。

I want to go back to basics this week with easy practical explainers.

欢迎大家来留言分享。

So do get in touch.

你们的问题太多了，我面前这页纸列出了出现频率最高的那些问题。

We were flooded with your questions and I've got in front of me a list of the order of which came up most commonly.

排在第一位的，毫无悬念，全是关于养老金的问题。

By far the biggest was all about pensions.

很多人对养老金完全一头雾水，今天我们就来帮大家理清楚。

It's pensions that many of you just don't seem to be able to get your heads around, so we're going to try and help that.

接下来是储蓄和投资，然后是能源账单、遗产继承和家庭保障，再是信用评分和信用卡、保险、个税申报，接着是学生贷款，之后是宽带，最后是消费者权益。

Also, it was savings and investing, then energy and bills and inheritance and family protection, followed by credit scores and credit cards, insurance, tax self assessment, then student finance, followed by broadband and finally consumer rights.

今天我们会尽量多讲几个话题，感谢大家这么积极的反馈。

We're going to try and get as many of those as we possibly can in today and we've had such a good response.

我下周可能会再做一期，继续回答你们的其他问题。

I'm probably going to do a part two on this next week to answer some more of your questions.

今天能请到谁来参加这期特别节目呢？还能有谁呢？

Joining me today in this pod only special, well, who else could it be?

是节目制作人西蒙。

It's podcast producer Simon.

嗨，西蒙。

Hello, Si.

你最近怎么样？

How are you?

我非常好。

I'm excellent.

谢谢关心。

Thank you.

能和你聊天我真的很开心。

I'm delighted to be speaking to you.

阳光真好。

The sun's shining.

我们都挺好的。

We're all good.

有个小问题。

Quick question.

对。

Yes.

你提了一大堆问题，多到我都快搞不清重点了。

You've got a big list, I mean, a really big list of questions, so much so in this I don't get money special.

我觉得下周大概还得再做一期。

I think we'll probably be doing part two next week.

你觉得怎么安排比较好？

What do you think is best?

我们是不是该一个话题一个话题地聊？

Should we be going through this topic by topic?

还是我们挑一些不同领域的题目，今天尽量覆盖更广的范围？

Or should we be taking a potpourri, a selection out so we get a really broad spread of questions answered today?

我倾向于多讲几个话题。

I like to cover as many topics as possible.

把各种信息尽可能多地分享出来，我觉得挺好的。

I think it's good to get as much information out there on various different places.

我也挺喜欢‘杂谈’这个词。

And I like the word potpourri.

好的。

Okay.

没错。

Right.

这样嘛，就像把各种好闻的香味都凑在一起了。

Well, it just brings up everything smelling of roses.

那你第一个问题是什么？

So what's your first question?

露易丝联系了我们。

Louise has got in touch.

她想了解投资和储蓄的区别。

She wants to know about investing versus saving.

另外，因为她自己说不清楚，我们得用最简单的话解释一下复利。

Plus, because she can't explain it, a very simple definition of compound interest.

我到现在还是觉得炒股跟赌博没两样，因为市场上有八成都是投机行为。

I still see investing in the stock market just like gambling, and that's because 80% of the market is speculation.

这感觉离实实在在的东西太远了。

It just feels too far removed from real things.

毕竟，股价涨跌跟公司赚不赚钱不是一回事。

After all, it's not the profit a company makes.

那些科技公司连钱都赚不到，怎么就值几十亿上百亿呢？

How are all the tech companies worth billions when they don't make any money?

好，那我们先从简单的问题说起——投资和储蓄的区别。

Okay, so let's start with the easy bit, investing versus saving.

存钱就是把钱存在一种存款账户里，你存进去的本金是受保障的，根据金融补偿计划，每人每家金融机构最多保障12万英镑。

When you save, you are putting your money away in a form of deposit account it's called, and the money that you put away is guaranteed, the capital, what you've saved in there is guaranteed, well, up to £120,000 per person per financial institution under the financial services compensation scheme anyway.

而你额外拿到的利息，利率是事先明确公布的。

And the amount that you get on top, the interest is at a pre disclosed rate.

所以你从一开始就知道自己能拿到多少。

So you know in advance what you're going to get.

不过呢，这中间也有点不确定性。

Now there are a couple of wobbles to that.

如果是浮动利率的账户，他们可能会告诉你利率是4.5%。

If it's a variable rate account, you might be told you're going to get 4.5%.

目前利率最高的活期存款账户是Chase，但它的利率是浮动的。

Chase is the top paying easy access account at the moment, but that's variable.

所以将来他们随时可能下调利率，那时候你就可以把钱转到别处去。

So they could tell you in future that lowering the interest rate, at which point you can take your money out and put it elsewhere.

如果是定期存款账户，那利率就是固定的。

In a fixed rate savings account, well, it is fixed.

所以在这段固定期内，利率是锁定的，但通常你不能随便取钱。

So you're locked in at that rate for a set period, but you generally can't take your money out.

另一种稍微折中的方式是彩票储蓄券，这也算是一种储蓄，因为本金有保障，你存进去的钱永远不会丢，但利息取决于抽奖结果。

The only other slight hybrid to this is premium bonds, which are a form of saving because your capital is protected, the money you put in is always protected, but the interest that you get is dependent on a prize draw.

这么说来，它还是属于储蓄的范畴。

That's still under the savings definition then.

储蓄的好处是绝对安全——当然，是在一定限额之内。

So the advantage of saving is absolute safety, under a certain limit anyway.

你完全能预知自己能拿到多少。

You know exactly what you're going to get.

这笔钱有保障，随时想取都能轻松取出。

It's guaranteed, and you can get your money out at any point that you want with ease.

储蓄的缺点是，和正确的投资相比，平均收益通常要低得多。

The disadvantage of saving is on average compared to investing done right, you don't get as much.

而且你赚的利息还被通货膨胀一点点蚕食。

Plus the amount of interest you earn is being eroded by inflation.

如果你的储蓄利率是4.5%，而通胀是3%，那你的实际增长只有1.5%。

So if your savings are four and a half percent and inflation is 3%, your actual growth is 1.5%.

但在某些时候，我们见过最高利率的储蓄账户只给2%，通胀却高达3%。

But in certain times, we've seen it where the top savings account are paying 2%, and inflation is 3%.

一旦出现这种情况，储蓄就不再是储蓄了，反而成了亏本——你存进去的钱，购买力其实正在缩水。

When that happens, your savings aren't really savings, they're losings, because the amount of money that you put into savings, the purchasing power is being decreased.

比如你存了1000英镑，取出来时可能变成1100英镑，但当初用1000英镑能买的东西，现在却要1150英镑才能买到了。

So if you put £1,000 into savings, when you take it out, you might have £1,100 but to buy what a thousand pounds would have bought you when you first put it in would now cost you $11.50 pounds.

所以从实际角度看，你的购买力已经没了。

So in reality, your purchasing power is gone.

人们选择投资，正是因为投资有可能超越储蓄的收益。

And the reason people go to investing is investing can beat savings.

回报可能更高，但投资意味着波动。

The returns can be better, but investing is about volatility.

投资就是把钱放出去，期待比储蓄高得多的回报，但你也得接受一个风险：最后可能拿回的钱比当初投入的还少。

Investing is where you put your money away in the hopes of far greater growth than saving, but understanding that you have to take the risk that you could end up with less than you started with.

如果你选择高风险投资，比如只买一家公司的股票，而这家公司倒闭了，那你可能血本无归。

And if you go for very high risk investing, let's say you buy a single share and that company goes bust, you can lose all of your money.

所以新手投资，应该只用那些五年以上用不着的钱，也就是闲钱来操作。

So the way that beginners should look at investing is I should only do it on money I'm putting away for more than five years, a money I don't need.

如果你把钱分散投到很多不同的公司，比如买一个全球指数基金，长期来看，你的收益很可能会超过储蓄。

And in that case, if you put it in a broad spread of investment and you want to be going into thousands of different firms, for example, something like a global index tracker, then hopefully over the long run, your investments will beat saving.

我强调分散投资，是因为如果你只投一家公司，它的股价可能剧烈波动，你不得不在低点割肉，结果反而亏了。

And the reason I talk about a broad spread is if you have one firm, it could rapidly go up or down and then you have to take your money out, you could be taking on a down you could have lost.

但如果你投资的是跟踪三千家公司的指数基金，风险就被分散了，涨得不会太快，跌得也不会太猛，但长期来看，五年以上，大概率能跑赢储蓄。

But if you're invested in an index tracker that mirrors the performance of 3,000 different firms, that spreading of the risk means things don't go up as quickly and things don't go down as quickly, but hopefully will outperform saving over the long period over that five years.

接下来我再讲复利的问题。

I'll come on to compound interest in a second.

我们先继续说这个。

Let's just carry on with this.

我记得露易丝刚才说，感觉投资有点像赌博，是吧？

Think I the next bit Louise asked was, she said it felt a bit like gambling investing, didn't she?

是的，没错。

Yeah, yeah.

投资和赌博之间其实有本质区别。

So there is a real difference between investing and gambling.

还有一种情况叫投机。

There's also something called speculation.

这稍微有点不一样。

That's slightly different.

那种情况是，没有实际的资产价值，你只是指望将来有人愿意出更高的价格买走。

That's where, you know, there's no underlying asset value and you're just hoping that somebody else will be willing to pay more than you in the future.

但当你投资债券、股票或其他实实在在的资产时，比如你持有一只股票，那意味着你真的拥有了公司的一部分。

But when you're investing in bonds or in shares or in other assets that actually are material, when you have a share, that literally means you own a share in a company.

我想，我们不会把一个人创业说成是赌博吧？尽管创业也有成功和失败的风险。

Now, I suspect we wouldn't talk about somebody who sets up their own business as gambling, even though there is success and failure involved in setting up your own business.

当你购买一家公司的股票时，你实际上就是拥有了这家公司的一小部分，这和自己创业非常相似。

Well, when you're buying a share in the company, you're literally, you own a small proportion of a company and it's very similar to setting up your own business.

对我来说，投资和赌博的根本区别就在于这一点。

And for me, the fundamental difference between investing and gambling is this.

赌博的时候，庄家是要抽成的。

When you gamble, the house takes a cut.

所以从定义上讲，平均来说，回流的钱永远少于投入的钱。

So by definition, on average, less is given back than is paid in.

这就像一个封闭的循环。

It is a closed loop if you like.

钱在里面打转，出不去。

It's a closed circuit of money.

但投资就不是这样。

That isn't the case in investing.

如果你投资，公司经营得好，产品卖得火，技术过硬，收入源源不断，那大家都能赚钱，总投资的价值也会增长——既有分红，也有股价上涨。

If you invest, if the firm does well and is selling lots of products and is doing its wares or has good technology and money is coming in, then everybody can gain and the total amount of the investment can be worth more, both with the income that comes in and the growth in the share price.

这对我来说，就是赌博和投资的根本区别：当你投资的是有真实资产支撑的东西，比如股票或债券，而债券本质上是公司打的欠条。

That's the fundamental difference to me between gambling and investing if you're investing in something that has a real asset behind it, like a share or a bond, which is an IOU for a company.

你刚才问了，那些科技公司还没赚钱，怎么就能值几十亿美金呢？

Now you asked in there, how could tech companies be worth billions when they don't make any money?

其实有些科技公司确实赚钱，而且赚得非常多。

Well, some tech companies do make money and they make enormous amounts of money.

谷歌就赚了巨额利润。

Google makes a huge amount of money.

英伟达现在也赚得盆满钵满。

NVIDIA's making a huge amount of money.

我觉得它现在盈利相当可观。

I believe it's making lots of profits.

至于为什么有些公司不赚钱，那是因为股市的估值是基于对未来利润的预期。

As for why they don't, that's because valuations in the markets are based on predicted future profits.

不是看眼下赚了多少钱。

They're not about today.

有意思的是，当一家公司发布财报，公布损益表的时候，它的利润可能比去年增长了百分之二十。

And it's interesting when a company releases its results, when it puts out its profit and loss accounts, it might have increased its profits by 20% year on year.

但如果市场预期它的利润增长是25%，而实际只有20%，股价反而会下跌，因为市场看重的是预期，而不是当前的数据。

But if the markets were expecting it to have increased its profits by 25%, you would see its share price drop because the markets are looking on expectations, not on the current.

所以科技公司即使现在亏钱，也能值几十亿，原因就在于市场定价时押注的是未来的盈利预期。

So the reason that tech companies can be worth billions when they're actually making a loss is it's about the predicted expectation of future gain that is being priced in.

有时候这些预期是对的，长期持有者就能赚得盆满钵满。

Sometimes that will be right, in which case the people who invested in the long run will do very well.

但有时候预期是错的，那些在高估值时进场的人就会亏得很惨。

Sometimes that can be wrong, in which case the people who invested at those high valuations will do very badly.

所以你说得对，这里面始终带着一点猜测和风险。

So there is always an element, you're right, of guesswork and risk involved.

我不会说这是赌博，但确实是一种猜测和风险并存的行为。

I'm not gonna call it gambling, but we'll call it guesswork and risk involved.

这就是为什么你要分散投资。

That's why you're spreading.

作为新手，你应该把资金分散到很多不同的公司里。

You know, as a beginner, you want to spread across lots and lots of different companies.

不过，如果全球经济整体在增长，你的投资也跟着上涨，那自然是最好的情况。

Well, hopefully, overall, if there's growth in world economies, then your investment will grow too.

你最后问的是复利，对吧？

Final bit of your question was compound interest, wasn't it?

对。

Yes.

你听明白了吗？

Are you understanding it?

到目前为止，这些内容还说得通吗？

Is it so far making sense?

好的。

Okay.

最后一个问题。

Final bit of the question.

复利。

Compound interest.

复利我们先从储蓄说起，然后再讲它在投资中的应用。

Compound interest, we'll do it on savings first and then I'll talk about it with investing.

复利就是利息生利息。

Compound interest is just means you get interest on the interest.

这么说吧。

So let's put it like this.

我们用一些非常简单的数字来说明，现实中可拿不到这么高的利率。

We're gonna do really simple numbers that you couldn't get right now.

假设你存了一千英镑到储蓄账户，年利率是百分之十。

You've got a thousand pounds that you put in a savings account at 10% interest.

第一年结束后，利息是一百英镑，也就是一千的百分之十。

After the first year, the interest is a £100, which is 10% of a thousand.

所以你现在一共有一千一百英镑。

So you now have £1,100.

到了第二年，你不再只是对最初的一千英镑计算利息。

In the second year, you don't just get interest on your initial thousand pounds.

你还会得到第一年那100英镑利息的利息。

You also get interest on the £100 interest you earned in the first year.

所以第二年，你拿到的是1100英镑的10%，也就是110英镑。

So in the second year, you get 10% of £1,100, which is a £110.

所以第二年结束时，你一共有1210英镑，而不是1200英镑。

So after the second year, you now have $12.10 pounds, not 1,200.

到了第三年，你不仅对本金1000英镑计息，对那100英镑和110英镑的利息也计息。

After the third year, you get interest on the thousand, interest on the 100, and interest on the 110.

所以是1210英镑的10%，也就是121英镑。

So it's 10% of $12.10, which is £121.

因此第三年结束时，你一共有1331英镑，而不是1300英镑。

So after the third year, you now have $13.31 pounds, not £1,300.

这么算下来，年利率10%的话，七年左右你的钱就能翻倍，因为利滚利让增长速度加快了。

And the net effect of that over the years is by, you know, within a 10% interest, you would have doubled your money within seven years because of the interest on the interest means everything grows quicker.

不过要注意，债务的情况正好相反。

Now it's important to understand it works the opposite way in debt.

在负债的情况下，借钱给你的人会获得复利。

In debt, it means the person who's lending you the money gets the compound interest.

你借的时间越长，负担就越重。

So the longer you borrow for, the worse it is.

在某些情况下，复利在投资中也同样有效。

And compounding does work effectively in investing too in certain circumstances.

我会尽量说得简单点，因为这正是重点所在。

I'm gonna keep this really simple because that's what this is all about.

如果你投资一篮子股票，其中很多都会派发股息。

So if you invest in a basket of shares, many of them will pay dividends.

也就是说，股东每年都能拿到公司利润的一定比例作为回报。

That means that the shareholders are getting a percentage of the profit from the company paid back to them each year.

你可以选择把股息以现金形式领走，也可以选择把股息再投资。

Now you can choose to have that dividend paid in cash or you can choose to reinvest your dividends.

如果你选择再投资股息，那这些股息就会用来购买公司更多的股票。

If you reinvest your dividends, that means the dividends you're being paid are buying more shares in the company.

所以每年因为股息，你持有的公司股票数量都会增加。

So the amount of shares in the company you own is increased each year because of the dividends.

当然，如果你这么做，第二年你会拥有更多股票，而这些股票——包括往年股息买来的那些——都会继续产生股息，这样你不仅从原始股票上赚股息，还从股息买的股票上再赚股息，如此循环下去。

And of course, the next if you do that, the next year, because you've got more shares and all of those shares, including the ones that you just got in dividends from the previous years, pay dividends, then you're getting dividends on your original shares plus dividends on the dividend shares and so on and so on.

所以实际上，投资中也能实现复利增长。

So in effect, you can also get compound growth within investing too.

我想我就讲到这里吧。

And I think I'll stop there.

接下来你有什么要讲的？

What have you got next?

我们现在换一个话题，来谈谈能源。

We're going to switch topics and go to energy now.

这周我们还有一位听众来电。

And we actually have a caller this week.

太好了。

Lovely.

我们现在连线的是来自汉密尔顿的阿拉娜。

We're actually joined by Alana in Hamilton.

阿拉娜，你最近怎么样？

Alana, how are you?

嗨，我挺好的，谢谢。

Hi, I'm good, thanks.

你好，阿拉娜。

Hello, Alana.

很高兴你能加入我们。

Very nice to have you on board.

今天主要想聊聊一个我搞不懂的问题。

So this is all about I don't get it.

你具体哪里不明白？我可以帮你理清楚。

What is it that you don't get that I can try and help you get?

对我来说，是关于能源消耗这块。

So for me, it's energy usage.

是的。

Yeah.

我明白每单位价格是怎么算的，但我不懂那些‘单位’到底是什么，我根本想象不出或量化出一个单位在日常生活中到底是什么样子，我完全没法判断我被收的钱到底准不准、合不合理。

I understand how the price per unit works, but what I don't understand is the actual units themselves, like I can't visualise or quantify what a unit actually looks like in everyday life, I've got no way of knowing whether what I'm being charged is actually accurate or even reasonable.

我只能相信电表和账单是准确的。

I just need to trust that the meter and the bill are correct.

这一直是我想不通的一件事。

That's just one thing I've never been able to get my head around.

好吧。

Okay.

这确实是个不完美的科学，因为总有些部分得靠估算，毕竟你没法像拿实物那样直接抓住它。

Well, it is an imperfect science in this because some of it is always going to be a level of guesswork because there isn't something tangible you can get hold of that you can grab.

不过我们还是试试看能不能让你再明白一点。

But let's see if we can get you at least a step further.

电能的计量单位是千瓦时。

Energy is measured in kilowatt hours.

所以，当你看大多数电器时，比如你的烤箱，你知道它的功率是多少瓦吗？

So when you go to most appliances, let's say your oven, do you have any idea what the wattage of your oven is?

不知道。

No.

完全没概念。

No idea.

我知道我的微波炉大概是1200瓦左右。

I know my microwave is something like 1,200 watt.

这个就够了。

That'll do.

那我们就用微波炉来举例吧。

We'll take the microwave then.

我拿微波炉跟你换烤箱。

I'll trade you a microwave for an oven.

所以你的微波炉是1200瓦。

So you've got 1,200 watts.

一千瓦就是一千瓦特。

Now a kilowatt is a thousand watts.

所以你的微波炉是1200瓦，如果一直以最大功率运行一小时，就会消耗1.2千瓦时的电。

So your microwave at 1,200 watts, if you had it on full power for an hour, it would use, because it's 1,200 watts, 1.2 kilowatt hours.

这样理解清楚了吗？

Does that make sense?

明白。

Yep.

你先把瓦特数换算成千瓦，也就是除以一千，然后如果它持续以这个功率运行一小时，那就是一千瓦时。

So you take the wattage, you turn it into kilowatts because which is a thousand watts, and then if that is on and running consistently at that power for an hour, it's a kilowatt hour.

现在在电价上限政策下，平均每千瓦时大概是26便士。

Now in electricity under the price cap now, on average, that's 26 p.

所以微波炉开一小时，电费大概会超过30便士。

So a microwave on for an hour, you know, would be a little over, probably about 30 p of electricity usage.

咱们再算几样别的电器。

Let's do a few more other things.

烤箱的功率一般是1500到2000瓦。

An oven can be 1,500, 2,000 watts.

所以你可能会觉得，如果开一小时，大概会用掉两度电。

So you would think if you had it on for an hour, that would use about two kilowatts.

但实际上，用的会少一些，因为烤箱加热到设定温度后，就不需要一直加热了。

In reality, it would probably use less because when you use an oven, it heats up.

等温度稍微降下来一点，它才会再启动加热。

And then once it's up the main temperature, it doesn't need to heat anymore until it drops down a bit and then it heats again.

所以它并不是一直满功率运行的。

So it isn't on full power the set all the time.

冰箱也是同样的道理。

Same with your fridge.

普通冰箱的功率大约是300瓦。

Your fridge is about 300 watts, a typical fridge.

如果它连续开三小时，你可能会以为会用掉一度电，但其实不然——冰箱是制冷到温度够了就停，靠压缩机和良好的保温，不用频繁启动。

So if that were on for three hours, you would think it would use one kilowatt hour, but actually again, your fridge is cooling down then stopping and the compression and hopefully the insulation means it doesn't need to do it again.

所以冰箱通常每天耗电大概三四十度。

So a fridge is probably using about thirty, forty P a day more typically.

一台等离子电视，用上十到二十小时才消耗一千瓦时。

A plasma TV, ten to twenty hours worth of use would be a kilowatt hour.

关键是要明白，耗电多的都是加热类设备，比如水壶、烤箱、家用暖气，因为加热需要直接输入大量能量。

So the big thing to understand, stuff that uses a lot of energy, heating, anything involving heating, kettles, oven, domestic heating, because heat is pure energy that you're needing to pump into it.

像电视这种设备耗电就少多了，因为它主要不是用来发热的。

Things that are are more subtle like a television will use less energy because it's not trying it does create heat.

你摸着它会感觉热，但它主要目的是发光，而发光比加热省电多了。

You know, you will feel the heat coming off it, but it's trying to create light, which isn't it doesn't take as much oomph as trying to create electricity.

所以买电器时，一定要看它的功率是多少。

So that's the sort of idea you need to look at the wattage whenever you're buying an appliance.

看清楚功率，再想想你每天会用多久，它是不是一直满功率运行。

Look at the wattage and think how long will I have it on for and will that run consistently at that power?

如果真是满功率运行，一千瓦用一小时就是一千瓦时，这就是电的计量单位。

And if it does, you know, a thousand watts on for an hour is a kilowatt hour, and that is the unit of electricity.

至于天然气，那就太复杂了。

As for gas, it's just too complicated.

这样能帮上忙吗？

Does that get you anywhere?

说实话，我不确定这有多大用处。

I mean, I'm not sure that helps.

可能有点帮助吧。

It may be a bit.

是的。

Yeah.

确实有点帮助。

It does help a bit.

我能

Could I

做点什么来帮你更清楚吗？

do to get you further?

但问题就在这儿，对吧？

That's just the thing though, isn't it?

就像你说的，这东西不是那种能拿在手里、能量出来的具体东西。

It's like, you know, it's not something physical that you can hold in your hand or, you know, something something that you can measure.

比如说手机，我知道自己用了多少分钟，发了多少条短信。

You know, like, for example, like a mobile phone, you know, I know how many minutes I'm using, I know how many texts I'm sending.

对。

Yeah.

但像煤气和电费就不一样了，你没法直接看到，除非挨个儿查遍家里所有电器的功率。

It's just like, you know, for me, you know, gas and electricity because it's not something you can physically see and without, you know, going all round your house and totalling up the wattage of every single appliance you're using.

不过还有一个办法，你装智能电表了吗？

But the other way to do this is do you have a smart meter?

是的，我装了。

Yeah, I do.

对。

Yep.

你家里有那个显示用电情况的屏幕吗？

And do you have an in home display that shows you how?

没有。

No,

我以前有，我觉得那是第一代智能电表配套的。

I used to, I think Mines is like the first generation of smart meter.

后来换了供电公司，那个显示屏幕就用不上了。

So when I moved supplier, the in home display was sort of obsolete.

你可以找新公司要一个这样的显示屏幕。

I would go to your new supplier and I would ask them for an in home display.

这本来就是它的用途啊。

I mean, that's what it is for.

这个屏幕会告诉你，花的是多少钱，而不是多少千瓦时，让你清楚自己现在的用电开销。

What your in home display does is it tells you, generally in pounds and pence, as opposed to in kilowatt hours, much you're spending on what your run rate is.

喜欢用这个的人，看你好像挺在意这个的，只要经常看看，就能发现，咦，本来该是十六便士，怎么变成十九便士了？

And people who like these and it sounds like it's something you're interested in, if you keep an eye on it, you'll be able to go, oh, know, that should be running up sixteen p and it's at nineteen p.

我敢打赌，我刚才 upstairs 浴室的灯还开着。

I bet I've left the light on in the bathroom upstairs.

用久了你就会特别有感觉，其实花不了多少钱，但你对家里的智能显示屏会越来越敏感。

And you get so intuitive as to I mean, it wouldn't be that much, but you get so intuitive as to what your in home display is.

我觉得最靠谱的办法就是你联系新供应商，直接要一个智能显示屏。我肯定会这么做的，至少你随时都能知道现在用了多少电。

So I think the best way to get you through this would be an in home display from your And smart I'd call them up and I'd get one because then at least, well, you would know what you're running on at any moment.

原来如此。

Right.

我都不知道还能向现在的供应商申请一个。

I didn't know that I could actually ask my current supplier for one.

我还以为……

I thought like

我不能保证他们一定会给你，但你完全可以去问。

I can't guarantee they'll give you one, but you can definitely ask them.

问一下完全没问题。

There's nothing wrong with asking them for one.

你有权利申请一个。

You're entitled to one.

有些房子因为系统原因确实装不了，也可能他们没有跟你系统兼容的设备，但你一定要主动联系他们，就说我要安装一个室内显示终端。

There are certain houses that can't have them for certain systems and it may be that they don't have one that's compatible with your system, but I would absolutely get in touch and say, I want an in home meter.

智能电表本来就该配这个。

And that's part of having a smart meter is you should have that.

是的。

Yeah.

好的。

Okay.

谢谢。

Thank you.

这个建议不错。

That's a good idea.

我试试看。

I'll try.

非常感谢您打来电话。

Thank you so much for your call.

希望我们能帮上一点忙。

I hope we helped a little bit.

也许我们让您往前推进了一步。

We might have got you a step further forward.

是的。

Yeah.

对， definitely。

Yeah, definitely.

确实如此。

Definitely.

非常感谢您。

Thank you so much.

不客气。

My pleasure.

保重。

Take care.

养老金是个大问题。

Pensions was a huge one.

我们接触过很多关于养老金的咨询。

We got so many on pensions.

莱斯利说，其他事情她都挺清楚的，就是搞不懂养老金。

Leslie says, Pensions, I am very switched on to everything else, but cannot get my head around them.

我觉得这还挺有代表性的。

Well, I think that's probably pretty representative.

那我们一起来理一理吧。

So let's just try and work this out.

普通人说的养老金，其实就是为了退休后不工作时存的钱。

A pension, what we mean by it in common parlance is saving towards the age when you'll be retired and no longer working.

想想看，我们现在的平均寿命大概在八十到八十五岁之间。

And if you think about it, our typical life expectancy is around eighty to eighty five years.

我们现在大概要工作四十年到五十年。

We're probably working forty, fifty years of that now.

所以这四五十年的工作收入，得撑起大约三十年的退休生活。

And so that forty, fifty years of work has to pay for the thirty ish years of not working.

你可能会说，等等，那段时间里有一部分是我小时候，还没工作呢。

Now you might say, hold on, some of that not working was when I was a kid.

没错，但那时候你父母其实是在为你掏钱，这就是代际之间的补贴。

Yeah, true, but then you're probably paying for your own kids, the cross generational subsidy.

所以简单来说，养老金就是提前存钱，好让退休后有收入可用。

So roughly a pension is all about putting money aside so that you've got money when you retire.

在很多情况下，政府会自动帮你完成这一部分，这就是国家养老金。

Now, the state does this automatically for you in many circumstances, and that is called the state pension.

你其实并没有专门存一笔钱进去，它不是你个人账户里积攒的积蓄。

You don't actually save to that in essence, you're not building up a pot of money for it.

国家养老金的运作方式是：只要你每年收入超过一定额度，或者有育儿责任，或者领取某些福利，就会获得一份国民保险积分。

What happens with the state pension is every year that you work and earn over a certain amount, or if you have childcare responsibilities, or if you're on certain benefits, you get a national insurance credit.

我通常把它当成一种积分。

I tend to think of it like a token.

这样理解起来比较容易。

It's an easy way to think of it.

你就把它当成一种积分。

Think of it like a token.

这些都会存进你的国民保险储蓄罐里。

It's going into your national insurance piggy bank.

根据规定，如果你累积了至少十年的国民保险积分——现在退休的人都属于这个体系——你就能拿到一部分养老金，大概是全额的三分之一左右。

Now the rule state, if you have over ten years worth of credits for the new state pension, which anyone retiring from this point onwards will be on, you will get some form of pension payment, probably be about a third of the full state pension.

如果你有三十五年的国民保险积分，也就是说你工作了三十五年或更久，就能拿到全额养老金。

If you have thirty five years of national insurance credits, so you've worked thirty five years, say, or more, you will get the full state pension.

这三十五年只是一个大概的数字。

Now that thirty five years is rough.

里面还有很多变数。

There are lots of variables in there.

把它看作一个概念，而不是死板的规定。

See it as an idea rather than a fixed rule.

你可以拿到全额国家养老金，目前是每周241英镑30便士，大约每年1万2500英镑。

You'll get the full state pension, which is currently £241 and 30p a week, around £12,500 a year.

值得注意的是，这笔钱是要缴税的。

Worth noting, that payment is taxable.

但说某笔收入要缴税，并不等于它自动就被扣税了。

Now when something is taxable, it doesn't mean it's automatically taxed.

意思是它会计入你的纳税额度范围。

It means it counts towards your tax thresholds.

大多数人每年收入不超过1万2570英镑，都不用缴税。

You can earn £12,570 a year, most people without paying any tax on it.

所以，如果你目前只有全额的新国家养老金，那你是不用缴税的。

So if you only had the full new state pension at the moment, you wouldn't pay any tax on it.

但如果你还有其他应税收入，比如工作收入或者私人养老金——我稍后会讲到——那么加起来超过免税额度的部分，就要缴税了。

But if you had any other taxable income, say from working or private pensions, which I'm going come on to a moment, then in total, anything above the threshold would be taxed.

国家养老金你明白了吧，Si？

So state pension understood, Si?

你跟上我的意思了吗？

You with me?

明白了。

Yes.

好的。

Okay.

这就是国家养老金的概况，但记住，每年12500英镑只是你能拿到全额新国家养老金的情况。

So that's the state pension in a nutshell, but remember, it's £12,500 a year and that's only if you get the full new state pension.

如果你没拿到全额国家养老金，金额就会更少——特别是如果你属于2016年4月之前退休、领旧养老金体系的人，基础金额本来就更低。

If you don't get the full state pension, it's less if you're not on the new state pension, The basic element of the old pension, which is for people who hit retirement age before April 2016, is less too.

即便如此，每年12500英镑对大多数人来说，也远远不够退休后的生活开销，因为大多数人退休后希望拿到在职时收入的三分之二左右，而12500英镑远达不到这个水平。

Even so, £12,500 a year does not for most people fulfill the requirement of what they will need to live in retirement, because most people would want roughly around two thirds of what they were getting when they were working when they retire, and £12,500 isn't that?

所以你还需要考虑额外积累一份私人养老金或雇主提供的养老金。

Which is why you're going to want to be looking at getting a private or workplace pension as well.

这类养老金的原则是，越早开始越好。

And the rule with those is the earlier you start, the better.

不过，它们有好几种不同类型。

But there are a few different types.

接下来我们来看看其他类型的养老金，也就是职场养老金或个人养老金。

We're gonna move on to the other types of pensions out there, which are effectively workplace or private pensions.

它们主要分为两类。

These fall into two categories.

其中较小的一类，通常适用于公共部门工作，或者很久以前在私营部门工作的人，是最终工资或平均工资养老金。

The smaller category, which tends to be reserved for public sector jobs or people who were working in the private sector quite a while ago, is final or average salary pensions.

也就是说，你每工作一年，就能累积到最终工资或平均工资的一定比例，退休后就按这个比例领取。

And that's where each year that you work, build up a percentage of your final or average salary, and that's what you're paid once you retire.

你拿到的就是这笔钱。

You get that.

这种叫作确定给付型养老金，因为退休后你能拿到的金额是事先确定的。

So it's called a defined benefit pension because it's the amount that you get when you retire that is defined.

第二种是最常见的类型，适用于所有非通过工作单位办理的个人养老金，以及如今大多数职场养老金。这种模式是你把钱存进去，然后进行投资。

The second type, which is by far the most common type and applies to all personal pensions you aren't doing through the workplace and most workplace pensions these days, is where you are putting money away towards your pension that is being invested.

你会有一个资金账户，积累一笔钱，等你达到退休年龄——现在是55岁，但以后会提高到57岁——就可以把这笔钱取出来，用来满足你的各种需求。

You have a pot, an amount of money that you have that once you hit retirement age, and it can be done from the age of 55 at the moment, but that'll be going up to age 57 later, you can take that money and you can use it on what you need to use it for.

我们稍后会讲到怎么取出来。

We'll talk about taking it out.

我知道你们对取款有很多问题，但今天先不展开讲。

I know you've got loads of questions on taking it out, so I'm not gonna go into that now.

养老金的另一个作用就是这个。

That's the other thing a pension for.

如今大多数情况下，它就是一个储蓄账户，但优势在于税务优惠：你存入养老金的钱，是来自税前收入的。

It is just a in most cases these days, it is a savings pot, but it's tax efficient because when you put money into your pension, it comes from your pretax income.

这一点非常关键。

This is really important.

这才是养老金最大的优势。

This is the big pension superpower.