Directions: In the passage given below there are 10 blanks, each followed by a word given in bold. Every blank has four alternative words given in options (A),(B),(C) and (D). You have to tell which word will best suit the respective blank. Mark (E) as your answer if the work given in bold after the blank is your answer i.e “No change required”.
Everyone knows that the baby-boomer generation is in the process of retiring, and that all those ex-hippies and _1_(impish) can expect to live longer than the Americans who retired before them. But the financial challenge this poses is less well understood. Any lingering _2_(anxiety) ought to be exploded by two papers in the latest Journal of Retirement.
The first*, from the Centre for Retirement Research (CRR) at Boston College, estimates the proportion of 65-year-olds who will be able to retire without a big hit to their _3_(boorish) income. Pensioners do not usually need as much money coming in as workers: for a start, they no longer need to save for retirement. The CRR estimates that 65-85% of their previous income is a reasonable “replacement rate”, depending on the type of household.
As well as private pensions, elderly Americans receive income from the federal government (in the form of Social Security, the public pension) and many earn money from their accumulated wealth, particularly by taking _4_( equity) out of their houses. Even allowing for these sources of income, the CRR estimates that 52% of Americans may not be able to maintain their standard of living (which it defines as having an income that falls no more than 10% below the replacement rate).
Unsurprisingly, the biggest problems face those with no private pension at all: 68% of these Americans are expected to fall short. Those lucky enough to be covered by defined-benefit plans—in which pensions are linked to a worker’s salary—have the least difficulty: only 20% are _5_(risk) at risk. Of those in defined-contribution (DC) plans—in which workers receive whatever pension _6_(deduced) they have accumulated by retirement—53% probably will not reach the replacement rate.
At least, you might think, Social Security will provide a basic income for the elderly. But the second paper**, by Sylvester Schieber, a former chairman of the Social Security Advisory Board, _7_(dramatized) that there are holes in the safety net. Mr Schieber finds that people whose total careers _8_(fronted) just 10-19 years comprise 8% of pensioners, but just over half of the poorest tenth of the elderly. Such workers could hardly have saved more for their retirement; they had barely _9_(intolerable) income in the first place.
That could be a _10_ (languid) problem, given Social Security’s finances. Payroll taxes on current workers no longer exceed the benefits paid out, prompting the government to tap the surplus of past years. On current projections, this will run out in 2034. After that, the cost of pensions could still be met mainly by contributions from workers. But the politicians of the day may be forced to consider benefit cuts.
- A) brats
B) punks
C) bleats
D) bonnets
E) No Correction Required
- A) modest
B) burden
C) altruism
D) complacency
E) No Correction Required
- A) turbid
B) essential
C) disposable
D) enhance
E) No Correction Required
- A) partial
B) empathy
C) liquidity
D) dispense
E) No Correction Required
- A) deemed
B) doubted
C) regarded
D) inundated
E) No Correction Required
- A) box
B) pot
C) dribble
D) dethrone
E) No Correction Required
- A) kindled
B) evoke
C) draw out
D) points out
E) No Correction Required
- A) perished
B) arched
C) strived
D) lasted
E) No Correction Required
- A) shy
B) skimpy
C) adequate
D) waitimg
E) No Correction Required
- A) isolating
B) looming
C) receding
D) holding
E) No Correction Required
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