Definition

Noun: 1. A financial institution: An organization, typically a trust or a specialized company, that receives and invests regular contributions (from employers and/or employees) to generate income for paying pensions to employees upon their retirement. 2. A pool of money: The specific sum of capital that is accumulated and managed by such an institution, reserved explicitly for the purpose of funding future pension payments to retired workers.

Usage Examples

• As an institution:
  • The company contributes a percentage of each employee's salary to the pension fund.
  • She reviewed her annual statement from the pension fund to check the growth of her retirement savings.
• As a pool of money:
  • The state pension fund has assets worth billions of dollars.
  • A portion of the investment returns generated by the pension fund is used to pay current retirees.

Advanced Usage

• "to be vested in a pension fund": To have earned the right to receive future benefits from the fund, regardless of whether one continues working for the employer.
  • After five years of service, employees become fully vested in the company pension fund.

Variants and Related Words

• Superannuation fund (noun, chiefly AU/NZ): A term synonymous with pension fund.
• Pension plan (noun): The overall scheme or program that includes the rules for contributions and benefits; the pension fund is the financial vehicle that holds the assets for the plan.
• Defined-benefit pension fund (noun): A type of fund where the retirement payout is predetermined by a formula based on salary and years of service.
• Defined-contribution pension fund (noun): A type of fund where the contributions are fixed, but the final retirement benefit depends on the investment performance of the fund.

Synonyms

• Retirement fund
• Provident fund (common in some Commonwealth countries)

Related Phrases

• Pension fund manager (noun phrase): The individual or company responsible for investing the assets of the pension fund.
  • The pension fund manager decided to diversify the portfolio into international markets.

Noun

1. a financial institution that collects regular contributions from employers to provide retirement income for employees
2. a fund reserved to pay workers' pensions when they retire from service