The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation was created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to encourage the continuation and maintenance of voluntary private pension plans, provide timely and uninterrupted payment of pension benefits and keep pension insurance premiums at a minimum. Defined benefit pension plans promise to pay a specified monthly benefit at retirement. The PBGC is not funded by general tax revenues, but instead it collects insurance premiums from employers that sponsor insured pension plans, earns money from investments and receives funds from pension plans it takes over. It pays monthly retirement benefits, up to a guaranteed maximum, to about 518,000 retirees in more than 3,400 pension plans that ended. Including individuals who have not yet retired, and participants in multi-employer plans receiving financial assistance, PBGC is responsible for the current and future pensions of nearly 1.1 million people.