Time Left - 30:00 mins
Reading Comprehension || RC PRACTICE SET - 19 || CAT 2021 || 19 May
Attempt now to get your rank among 272 students!
Question 1
Direction: Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words are printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of these.
The Financial Times with a survey concluded that millennials are prioritizing short-term spending over long-term saving. According to one calculation, the average 25-year-old should be saving £800 (or about $1,146) a month over the next 40 years, in order to retire at 65 with an annual income of £30,000. That piece went viral. For all the wrong reasons. As millennials who responded angrily to the article noted, they’re too busy buying groceries or paying rent to even think about being able to have that much money to allocate to a savings account. But ignoring the tone deafness, there is a real problem here.
T Rowe Price recommends that millennials should save about 15% of their incomes for retirement. However, a recent survey found that on average, while they are doing a good job of budgeting and say they have increased their savings in the past 12 months, their actual savings rate is about 8%. Financial planners can puff and huff about results like that. They can argue that millennials don’t realize how much they need to save; that they are succumbing to one of those behavioural finance phenomena by failing to appreciate that yes, one day they, too, will be 65 and need a retirement nest egg. For their part, the millennials might well argue that the rest of us simply don’t understand their new normal.
It has always been true, and remains true today, that a dollar someone puts aside in a tax-sheltered retirement account when he is 25 years old will be worth much, much more then that same dollar would be if he had set it aside at the age of 50, thanks to the fact that it is sitting there are being reinvested, year after year, tax-free. What someone in their 20s loses in absolute wealth, they earn in terms of time. The problem is that there are too many other factors stopping millennials from making that decision to save.
They have got the millennial paradox to contend with. In 2014, the average college student graduated with $33,000 of student debt, according to one calculation. Do you want to be one of those students who defaults on her student debt, just in order to have a few extra bucks to put into her retirement account? Really, not a viable solution; those payments have to be kept up, even if it means there’s no money for a retirement account. The cost of living is climbing, too, led by rental costs, which hit records in many cities last year. On average, millennials who rent nationwide would have had to spend 30% of their monthly income to their landlords. Health insurance? If your company offers it, odds are it’s a benefit that requires you to shoulder a greater portion of the costs of these days. And if you’re older than 26, and paying for your own healthcare, you’ve already discovered that both premiums and deductibles are rising for most policies. Then, there are other expenses like wedding gifts, birthday gifts, parties, clothes, accessories, food, bills, transportation, travel or vacations.
Eventually, some of those pressures will abate – the student debt will be paid down – and millennials will be earning more. But they will be older, and the value of each dollar they save by that stage will be less. In any event, new financial pressures will arrive on the scene, in the form of children, the need to save for a house, to help out ageing parents. Perhaps there is some creative way to tackle this. To the extent that the cost of obtaining an education means that millennials can’t start saving for retirement when it’s most advantageous for all of society that they should, maybe there’s a way to restructure or postpone debt payments until later in life as long as graduates begin contributing to
their retirement accounts.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com
The Financial Times with a survey concluded that millennials are prioritizing short-term spending over long-term saving. According to one calculation, the average 25-year-old should be saving £800 (or about $1,146) a month over the next 40 years, in order to retire at 65 with an annual income of £30,000. That piece went viral. For all the wrong reasons. As millennials who responded angrily to the article noted, they’re too busy buying groceries or paying rent to even think about being able to have that much money to allocate to a savings account. But ignoring the tone deafness, there is a real problem here.
T Rowe Price recommends that millennials should save about 15% of their incomes for retirement. However, a recent survey found that on average, while they are doing a good job of budgeting and say they have increased their savings in the past 12 months, their actual savings rate is about 8%. Financial planners can puff and huff about results like that. They can argue that millennials don’t realize how much they need to save; that they are succumbing to one of those behavioural finance phenomena by failing to appreciate that yes, one day they, too, will be 65 and need a retirement nest egg. For their part, the millennials might well argue that the rest of us simply don’t understand their new normal.
It has always been true, and remains true today, that a dollar someone puts aside in a tax-sheltered retirement account when he is 25 years old will be worth much, much more then that same dollar would be if he had set it aside at the age of 50, thanks to the fact that it is sitting there are being reinvested, year after year, tax-free. What someone in their 20s loses in absolute wealth, they earn in terms of time. The problem is that there are too many other factors stopping millennials from making that decision to save.
They have got the millennial paradox to contend with. In 2014, the average college student graduated with $33,000 of student debt, according to one calculation. Do you want to be one of those students who defaults on her student debt, just in order to have a few extra bucks to put into her retirement account? Really, not a viable solution; those payments have to be kept up, even if it means there’s no money for a retirement account. The cost of living is climbing, too, led by rental costs, which hit records in many cities last year. On average, millennials who rent nationwide would have had to spend 30% of their monthly income to their landlords. Health insurance? If your company offers it, odds are it’s a benefit that requires you to shoulder a greater portion of the costs of these days. And if you’re older than 26, and paying for your own healthcare, you’ve already discovered that both premiums and deductibles are rising for most policies. Then, there are other expenses like wedding gifts, birthday gifts, parties, clothes, accessories, food, bills, transportation, travel or vacations.
Eventually, some of those pressures will abate – the student debt will be paid down – and millennials will be earning more. But they will be older, and the value of each dollar they save by that stage will be less. In any event, new financial pressures will arrive on the scene, in the form of children, the need to save for a house, to help out ageing parents. Perhaps there is some creative way to tackle this. To the extent that the cost of obtaining an education means that millennials can’t start saving for retirement when it’s most advantageous for all of society that they should, maybe there’s a way to restructure or postpone debt payments until later in life as long as graduates begin contributing to
their retirement accounts.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com
What does the author mean by “...They have got the millennial paradox to contend with”?
Question 2
Direction: Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words are printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of these.
The Financial Times with a survey concluded that millennials are prioritizing short-term spending over long-term saving. According to one calculation, the average 25-year-old should be saving £800 (or about $1,146) a month over the next 40 years, in order to retire at 65 with an annual income of £30,000. That piece went viral. For all the wrong reasons. As millennials who responded angrily to the article noted, they’re too busy buying groceries or paying rent to even think about being able to have that much money to allocate to a savings account. But ignoring the tone deafness, there is a real problem here.
T Rowe Price recommends that millennials should save about 15% of their incomes for retirement. However, a recent survey found that on average, while they are doing a good job of budgeting and say they have increased their savings in the past 12 months, their actual savings rate is about 8%. Financial planners can puff and huff about results like that. They can argue that millennials don’t realize how much they need to save; that they are succumbing to one of those behavioural finance phenomena by failing to appreciate that yes, one day they, too, will be 65 and need a retirement nest egg. For their part, the millennials might well argue that the rest of us simply don’t understand their new normal.
It has always been true, and remains true today, that a dollar someone puts aside in a tax-sheltered retirement account when he is 25 years old will be worth much, much more then that same dollar would be if he had set it aside at the age of 50, thanks to the fact that it is sitting there are being reinvested, year after year, tax-free. What someone in their 20s loses in absolute wealth, they earn in terms of time. The problem is that there are too many other factors stopping millennials from making that decision to save.
They have got the millennial paradox to contend with. In 2014, the average college student graduated with $33,000 of student debt, according to one calculation. Do you want to be one of those students who defaults on her student debt, just in order to have a few extra bucks to put into her retirement account? Really, not a viable solution; those payments have to be kept up, even if it means there’s no money for a retirement account. The cost of living is climbing, too, led by rental costs, which hit records in many cities last year. On average, millennials who rent nationwide would have had to spend 30% of their monthly income to their landlords. Health insurance? If your company offers it, odds are it’s a benefit that requires you to shoulder a greater portion of the costs of these days. And if you’re older than 26, and paying for your own healthcare, you’ve already discovered that both premiums and deductibles are rising for most policies. Then, there are other expenses like wedding gifts, birthday gifts, parties, clothes, accessories, food, bills, transportation, travel or vacations.
Eventually, some of those pressures will abate – the student debt will be paid down – and millennials will be earning more. But they will be older, and the value of each dollar they save by that stage will be less. In any event, new financial pressures will arrive on the scene, in the form of children, the need to save for a house, to help out ageing parents. Perhaps there is some creative way to tackle this. To the extent that the cost of obtaining an education means that millennials can’t start saving for retirement when it’s most advantageous for all of society that they should, maybe there’s a way to restructure or postpone debt payments until later in life as long as graduates begin contributing to
their retirement accounts.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com
The Financial Times with a survey concluded that millennials are prioritizing short-term spending over long-term saving. According to one calculation, the average 25-year-old should be saving £800 (or about $1,146) a month over the next 40 years, in order to retire at 65 with an annual income of £30,000. That piece went viral. For all the wrong reasons. As millennials who responded angrily to the article noted, they’re too busy buying groceries or paying rent to even think about being able to have that much money to allocate to a savings account. But ignoring the tone deafness, there is a real problem here.
T Rowe Price recommends that millennials should save about 15% of their incomes for retirement. However, a recent survey found that on average, while they are doing a good job of budgeting and say they have increased their savings in the past 12 months, their actual savings rate is about 8%. Financial planners can puff and huff about results like that. They can argue that millennials don’t realize how much they need to save; that they are succumbing to one of those behavioural finance phenomena by failing to appreciate that yes, one day they, too, will be 65 and need a retirement nest egg. For their part, the millennials might well argue that the rest of us simply don’t understand their new normal.
It has always been true, and remains true today, that a dollar someone puts aside in a tax-sheltered retirement account when he is 25 years old will be worth much, much more then that same dollar would be if he had set it aside at the age of 50, thanks to the fact that it is sitting there are being reinvested, year after year, tax-free. What someone in their 20s loses in absolute wealth, they earn in terms of time. The problem is that there are too many other factors stopping millennials from making that decision to save.
They have got the millennial paradox to contend with. In 2014, the average college student graduated with $33,000 of student debt, according to one calculation. Do you want to be one of those students who defaults on her student debt, just in order to have a few extra bucks to put into her retirement account? Really, not a viable solution; those payments have to be kept up, even if it means there’s no money for a retirement account. The cost of living is climbing, too, led by rental costs, which hit records in many cities last year. On average, millennials who rent nationwide would have had to spend 30% of their monthly income to their landlords. Health insurance? If your company offers it, odds are it’s a benefit that requires you to shoulder a greater portion of the costs of these days. And if you’re older than 26, and paying for your own healthcare, you’ve already discovered that both premiums and deductibles are rising for most policies. Then, there are other expenses like wedding gifts, birthday gifts, parties, clothes, accessories, food, bills, transportation, travel or vacations.
Eventually, some of those pressures will abate – the student debt will be paid down – and millennials will be earning more. But they will be older, and the value of each dollar they save by that stage will be less. In any event, new financial pressures will arrive on the scene, in the form of children, the need to save for a house, to help out ageing parents. Perhaps there is some creative way to tackle this. To the extent that the cost of obtaining an education means that millennials can’t start saving for retirement when it’s most advantageous for all of society that they should, maybe there’s a way to restructure or postpone debt payments until later in life as long as graduates begin contributing to
their retirement accounts.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com
Which of the following is either a synonym or an antonym of the highlighted word used in the passage?
ABATE
I. Wane
II. Recede
III. Prolong
ABATE
I. Wane
II. Recede
III. Prolong
Question 3
Direction: Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words are printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of these.
The Financial Times with a survey concluded that millennials are prioritizing short-term spending over long-term saving. According to one calculation, the average 25-year-old should be saving £800 (or about $1,146) a month over the next 40 years, in order to retire at 65 with an annual income of £30,000. That piece went viral. For all the wrong reasons. As millennials who responded angrily to the article noted, they’re too busy buying groceries or paying rent to even think about being able to have that much money to allocate to a savings account. But ignoring the tone deafness, there is a real problem here.
T Rowe Price recommends that millennials should save about 15% of their incomes for retirement. However, a recent survey found that on average, while they are doing a good job of budgeting and say they have increased their savings in the past 12 months, their actual savings rate is about 8%. Financial planners can puff and huff about results like that. They can argue that millennials don’t realize how much they need to save; that they are succumbing to one of those behavioural finance phenomena by failing to appreciate that yes, one day they, too, will be 65 and need a retirement nest egg. For their part, the millennials might well argue that the rest of us simply don’t understand their new normal.
It has always been true, and remains true today, that a dollar someone puts aside in a tax-sheltered retirement account when he is 25 years old will be worth much, much more then that same dollar would be if he had set it aside at the age of 50, thanks to the fact that it is sitting there are being reinvested, year after year, tax-free. What someone in their 20s loses in absolute wealth, they earn in terms of time. The problem is that there are too many other factors stopping millennials from making that decision to save.
They have got the millennial paradox to contend with. In 2014, the average college student graduated with $33,000 of student debt, according to one calculation. Do you want to be one of those students who defaults on her student debt, just in order to have a few extra bucks to put into her retirement account? Really, not a viable solution; those payments have to be kept up, even if it means there’s no money for a retirement account. The cost of living is climbing, too, led by rental costs, which hit records in many cities last year. On average, millennials who rent nationwide would have had to spend 30% of their monthly income to their landlords. Health insurance? If your company offers it, odds are it’s a benefit that requires you to shoulder a greater portion of the costs of these days. And if you’re older than 26, and paying for your own healthcare, you’ve already discovered that both premiums and deductibles are rising for most policies. Then, there are other expenses like wedding gifts, birthday gifts, parties, clothes, accessories, food, bills, transportation, travel or vacations.
Eventually, some of those pressures will abate – the student debt will be paid down – and millennials will be earning more. But they will be older, and the value of each dollar they save by that stage will be less. In any event, new financial pressures will arrive on the scene, in the form of children, the need to save for a house, to help out ageing parents. Perhaps there is some creative way to tackle this. To the extent that the cost of obtaining an education means that millennials can’t start saving for retirement when it’s most advantageous for all of society that they should, maybe there’s a way to restructure or postpone debt payments until later in life as long as graduates begin contributing to
their retirement accounts.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com
The Financial Times with a survey concluded that millennials are prioritizing short-term spending over long-term saving. According to one calculation, the average 25-year-old should be saving £800 (or about $1,146) a month over the next 40 years, in order to retire at 65 with an annual income of £30,000. That piece went viral. For all the wrong reasons. As millennials who responded angrily to the article noted, they’re too busy buying groceries or paying rent to even think about being able to have that much money to allocate to a savings account. But ignoring the tone deafness, there is a real problem here.
T Rowe Price recommends that millennials should save about 15% of their incomes for retirement. However, a recent survey found that on average, while they are doing a good job of budgeting and say they have increased their savings in the past 12 months, their actual savings rate is about 8%. Financial planners can puff and huff about results like that. They can argue that millennials don’t realize how much they need to save; that they are succumbing to one of those behavioural finance phenomena by failing to appreciate that yes, one day they, too, will be 65 and need a retirement nest egg. For their part, the millennials might well argue that the rest of us simply don’t understand their new normal.
It has always been true, and remains true today, that a dollar someone puts aside in a tax-sheltered retirement account when he is 25 years old will be worth much, much more then that same dollar would be if he had set it aside at the age of 50, thanks to the fact that it is sitting there are being reinvested, year after year, tax-free. What someone in their 20s loses in absolute wealth, they earn in terms of time. The problem is that there are too many other factors stopping millennials from making that decision to save.
They have got the millennial paradox to contend with. In 2014, the average college student graduated with $33,000 of student debt, according to one calculation. Do you want to be one of those students who defaults on her student debt, just in order to have a few extra bucks to put into her retirement account? Really, not a viable solution; those payments have to be kept up, even if it means there’s no money for a retirement account. The cost of living is climbing, too, led by rental costs, which hit records in many cities last year. On average, millennials who rent nationwide would have had to spend 30% of their monthly income to their landlords. Health insurance? If your company offers it, odds are it’s a benefit that requires you to shoulder a greater portion of the costs of these days. And if you’re older than 26, and paying for your own healthcare, you’ve already discovered that both premiums and deductibles are rising for most policies. Then, there are other expenses like wedding gifts, birthday gifts, parties, clothes, accessories, food, bills, transportation, travel or vacations.
Eventually, some of those pressures will abate – the student debt will be paid down – and millennials will be earning more. But they will be older, and the value of each dollar they save by that stage will be less. In any event, new financial pressures will arrive on the scene, in the form of children, the need to save for a house, to help out ageing parents. Perhaps there is some creative way to tackle this. To the extent that the cost of obtaining an education means that millennials can’t start saving for retirement when it’s most advantageous for all of society that they should, maybe there’s a way to restructure or postpone debt payments until later in life as long as graduates begin contributing to
their retirement accounts.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com
Which of the following is not an assumption that supports the arguments presented in the third paragraph?
Question 4
Direction: Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words are printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of these.
The Financial Times with a survey concluded that millennials are prioritizing short-term spending over long-term saving. According to one calculation, the average 25-year-old should be saving £800 (or about $1,146) a month over the next 40 years, in order to retire at 65 with an annual income of £30,000. That piece went viral. For all the wrong reasons. As millennials who responded angrily to the article noted, they’re too busy buying groceries or paying rent to even think about being able to have that much money to allocate to a savings account. But ignoring the tone deafness, there is a real problem here.
T Rowe Price recommends that millennials should save about 15% of their incomes for retirement. However, a recent survey found that on average, while they are doing a good job of budgeting and say they have increased their savings in the past 12 months, their actual savings rate is about 8%. Financial planners can puff and huff about results like that. They can argue that millennials don’t realize how much they need to save; that they are succumbing to one of those behavioural finance phenomena by failing to appreciate that yes, one day they, too, will be 65 and need a retirement nest egg. For their part, the millennials might well argue that the rest of us simply don’t understand their new normal.
It has always been true, and remains true today, that a dollar someone puts aside in a tax-sheltered retirement account when he is 25 years old will be worth much, much more then that same dollar would be if he had set it aside at the age of 50, thanks to the fact that it is sitting there are being reinvested, year after year, tax-free. What someone in their 20s loses in absolute wealth, they earn in terms of time. The problem is that there are too many other factors stopping millennials from making that decision to save.
They have got the millennial paradox to contend with. In 2014, the average college student graduated with $33,000 of student debt, according to one calculation. Do you want to be one of those students who defaults on her student debt, just in order to have a few extra bucks to put into her retirement account? Really, not a viable solution; those payments have to be kept up, even if it means there’s no money for a retirement account. The cost of living is climbing, too, led by rental costs, which hit records in many cities last year. On average, millennials who rent nationwide would have had to spend 30% of their monthly income to their landlords. Health insurance? If your company offers it, odds are it’s a benefit that requires you to shoulder a greater portion of the costs of these days. And if you’re older than 26, and paying for your own healthcare, you’ve already discovered that both premiums and deductibles are rising for most policies. Then, there are other expenses like wedding gifts, birthday gifts, parties, clothes, accessories, food, bills, transportation, travel or vacations.
Eventually, some of those pressures will abate – the student debt will be paid down – and millennials will be earning more. But they will be older, and the value of each dollar they save by that stage will be less. In any event, new financial pressures will arrive on the scene, in the form of children, the need to save for a house, to help out ageing parents. Perhaps there is some creative way to tackle this. To the extent that the cost of obtaining an education means that millennials can’t start saving for retirement when it’s most advantageous for all of society that they should, maybe there’s a way to restructure or postpone debt payments until later in life as long as graduates begin contributing to
their retirement accounts.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com
The Financial Times with a survey concluded that millennials are prioritizing short-term spending over long-term saving. According to one calculation, the average 25-year-old should be saving £800 (or about $1,146) a month over the next 40 years, in order to retire at 65 with an annual income of £30,000. That piece went viral. For all the wrong reasons. As millennials who responded angrily to the article noted, they’re too busy buying groceries or paying rent to even think about being able to have that much money to allocate to a savings account. But ignoring the tone deafness, there is a real problem here.
T Rowe Price recommends that millennials should save about 15% of their incomes for retirement. However, a recent survey found that on average, while they are doing a good job of budgeting and say they have increased their savings in the past 12 months, their actual savings rate is about 8%. Financial planners can puff and huff about results like that. They can argue that millennials don’t realize how much they need to save; that they are succumbing to one of those behavioural finance phenomena by failing to appreciate that yes, one day they, too, will be 65 and need a retirement nest egg. For their part, the millennials might well argue that the rest of us simply don’t understand their new normal.
It has always been true, and remains true today, that a dollar someone puts aside in a tax-sheltered retirement account when he is 25 years old will be worth much, much more then that same dollar would be if he had set it aside at the age of 50, thanks to the fact that it is sitting there are being reinvested, year after year, tax-free. What someone in their 20s loses in absolute wealth, they earn in terms of time. The problem is that there are too many other factors stopping millennials from making that decision to save.
They have got the millennial paradox to contend with. In 2014, the average college student graduated with $33,000 of student debt, according to one calculation. Do you want to be one of those students who defaults on her student debt, just in order to have a few extra bucks to put into her retirement account? Really, not a viable solution; those payments have to be kept up, even if it means there’s no money for a retirement account. The cost of living is climbing, too, led by rental costs, which hit records in many cities last year. On average, millennials who rent nationwide would have had to spend 30% of their monthly income to their landlords. Health insurance? If your company offers it, odds are it’s a benefit that requires you to shoulder a greater portion of the costs of these days. And if you’re older than 26, and paying for your own healthcare, you’ve already discovered that both premiums and deductibles are rising for most policies. Then, there are other expenses like wedding gifts, birthday gifts, parties, clothes, accessories, food, bills, transportation, travel or vacations.
Eventually, some of those pressures will abate – the student debt will be paid down – and millennials will be earning more. But they will be older, and the value of each dollar they save by that stage will be less. In any event, new financial pressures will arrive on the scene, in the form of children, the need to save for a house, to help out ageing parents. Perhaps there is some creative way to tackle this. To the extent that the cost of obtaining an education means that millennials can’t start saving for retirement when it’s most advantageous for all of society that they should, maybe there’s a way to restructure or postpone debt payments until later in life as long as graduates begin contributing to
their retirement accounts.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com
Given below is a possible inference that can be drawn from the facts stated in the fourth paragraph. You have to examine the inference in the context of the passage and decide upon its degree of truth or falsity.
'The lack of saving culture will impact the consumption patterns of millennials.'
'The lack of saving culture will impact the consumption patterns of millennials.'
Question 5
Direction: Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words are printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of these.
The Financial Times with a survey concluded that millennials are prioritizing short-term spending over long-term saving. According to one calculation, the average 25-year-old should be saving £800 (or about $1,146) a month over the next 40 years, in order to retire at 65 with an annual income of £30,000. That piece went viral. For all the wrong reasons. As millennials who responded angrily to the article noted, they’re too busy buying groceries or paying rent to even think about being able to have that much money to allocate to a savings account. But ignoring the tone deafness, there is a real problem here.
T Rowe Price recommends that millennials should save about 15% of their incomes for retirement. However, a recent survey found that on average, while they are doing a good job of budgeting and say they have increased their savings in the past 12 months, their actual savings rate is about 8%. Financial planners can puff and huff about results like that. They can argue that millennials don’t realize how much they need to save; that they are succumbing to one of those behavioural finance phenomena by failing to appreciate that yes, one day they, too, will be 65 and need a retirement nest egg. For their part, the millennials might well argue that the rest of us simply don’t understand their new normal.
It has always been true, and remains true today, that a dollar someone puts aside in a tax-sheltered retirement account when he is 25 years old will be worth much, much more then that same dollar would be if he had set it aside at the age of 50, thanks to the fact that it is sitting there are being reinvested, year after year, tax-free. What someone in their 20s loses in absolute wealth, they earn in terms of time. The problem is that there are too many other factors stopping millennials from making that decision to save.
They have got the millennial paradox to contend with. In 2014, the average college student graduated with $33,000 of student debt, according to one calculation. Do you want to be one of those students who defaults on her student debt, just in order to have a few extra bucks to put into her retirement account? Really, not a viable solution; those payments have to be kept up, even if it means there’s no money for a retirement account. The cost of living is climbing, too, led by rental costs, which hit records in many cities last year. On average, millennials who rent nationwide would have had to spend 30% of their monthly income to their landlords. Health insurance? If your company offers it, odds are it’s a benefit that requires you to shoulder a greater portion of the costs of these days. And if you’re older than 26, and paying for your own healthcare, you’ve already discovered that both premiums and deductibles are rising for most policies. Then, there are other expenses like wedding gifts, birthday gifts, parties, clothes, accessories, food, bills, transportation, travel or vacations.
Eventually, some of those pressures will abate – the student debt will be paid down – and millennials will be earning more. But they will be older, and the value of each dollar they save by that stage will be less. In any event, new financial pressures will arrive on the scene, in the form of children, the need to save for a house, to help out ageing parents. Perhaps there is some creative way to tackle this. To the extent that the cost of obtaining an education means that millennials can’t start saving for retirement when it’s most advantageous for all of society that they should, maybe there’s a way to restructure or postpone debt payments until later in life as long as graduates begin contributing to
their retirement accounts.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com
The Financial Times with a survey concluded that millennials are prioritizing short-term spending over long-term saving. According to one calculation, the average 25-year-old should be saving £800 (or about $1,146) a month over the next 40 years, in order to retire at 65 with an annual income of £30,000. That piece went viral. For all the wrong reasons. As millennials who responded angrily to the article noted, they’re too busy buying groceries or paying rent to even think about being able to have that much money to allocate to a savings account. But ignoring the tone deafness, there is a real problem here.
T Rowe Price recommends that millennials should save about 15% of their incomes for retirement. However, a recent survey found that on average, while they are doing a good job of budgeting and say they have increased their savings in the past 12 months, their actual savings rate is about 8%. Financial planners can puff and huff about results like that. They can argue that millennials don’t realize how much they need to save; that they are succumbing to one of those behavioural finance phenomena by failing to appreciate that yes, one day they, too, will be 65 and need a retirement nest egg. For their part, the millennials might well argue that the rest of us simply don’t understand their new normal.
It has always been true, and remains true today, that a dollar someone puts aside in a tax-sheltered retirement account when he is 25 years old will be worth much, much more then that same dollar would be if he had set it aside at the age of 50, thanks to the fact that it is sitting there are being reinvested, year after year, tax-free. What someone in their 20s loses in absolute wealth, they earn in terms of time. The problem is that there are too many other factors stopping millennials from making that decision to save.
They have got the millennial paradox to contend with. In 2014, the average college student graduated with $33,000 of student debt, according to one calculation. Do you want to be one of those students who defaults on her student debt, just in order to have a few extra bucks to put into her retirement account? Really, not a viable solution; those payments have to be kept up, even if it means there’s no money for a retirement account. The cost of living is climbing, too, led by rental costs, which hit records in many cities last year. On average, millennials who rent nationwide would have had to spend 30% of their monthly income to their landlords. Health insurance? If your company offers it, odds are it’s a benefit that requires you to shoulder a greater portion of the costs of these days. And if you’re older than 26, and paying for your own healthcare, you’ve already discovered that both premiums and deductibles are rising for most policies. Then, there are other expenses like wedding gifts, birthday gifts, parties, clothes, accessories, food, bills, transportation, travel or vacations.
Eventually, some of those pressures will abate – the student debt will be paid down – and millennials will be earning more. But they will be older, and the value of each dollar they save by that stage will be less. In any event, new financial pressures will arrive on the scene, in the form of children, the need to save for a house, to help out ageing parents. Perhaps there is some creative way to tackle this. To the extent that the cost of obtaining an education means that millennials can’t start saving for retirement when it’s most advantageous for all of society that they should, maybe there’s a way to restructure or postpone debt payments until later in life as long as graduates begin contributing to
their retirement accounts.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com
Given below is a possible inference that can be drawn from the facts stated in the fourth paragraph. You have to examine the inference in the context of the passage and decide upon its degree of truth or falsity.
'The financial struggles that millennials face are making them more financially savvy.'
'The financial struggles that millennials face are making them more financially savvy.'
Question 6
Direction: Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words are printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of these.
The Financial Times with a survey concluded that millennials are prioritizing short-term spending over long-term saving. According to one calculation, the average 25-year-old should be saving £800 (or about $1,146) a month over the next 40 years, in order to retire at 65 with an annual income of £30,000. That piece went viral. For all the wrong reasons. As millennials who responded angrily to the article noted, they’re too busy buying groceries or paying rent to even think about being able to have that much money to allocate to a savings account. But ignoring the tone deafness, there is a real problem here.
T Rowe Price recommends that millennials should save about 15% of their incomes for retirement. However, a recent survey found that on average, while they are doing a good job of budgeting and say they have increased their savings in the past 12 months, their actual savings rate is about 8%. Financial planners can puff and huff about results like that. They can argue that millennials don’t realize how much they need to save; that they are succumbing to one of those behavioural finance phenomena by failing to appreciate that yes, one day they, too, will be 65 and need a retirement nest egg. For their part, the millennials might well argue that the rest of us simply don’t understand their new normal.
It has always been true, and remains true today, that a dollar someone puts aside in a tax-sheltered retirement account when he is 25 years old will be worth much, much more then that same dollar would be if he had set it aside at the age of 50, thanks to the fact that it is sitting there are being reinvested, year after year, tax-free. What someone in their 20s loses in absolute wealth, they earn in terms of time. The problem is that there are too many other factors stopping millennials from making that decision to save.
They have got the millennial paradox to contend with. In 2014, the average college student graduated with $33,000 of student debt, according to one calculation. Do you want to be one of those students who defaults on her student debt, just in order to have a few extra bucks to put into her retirement account? Really, not a viable solution; those payments have to be kept up, even if it means there’s no money for a retirement account. The cost of living is climbing, too, led by rental costs, which hit records in many cities last year. On average, millennials who rent nationwide would have had to spend 30% of their monthly income to their landlords. Health insurance? If your company offers it, odds are it’s a benefit that requires you to shoulder a greater portion of the costs of these days. And if you’re older than 26, and paying for your own healthcare, you’ve already discovered that both premiums and deductibles are rising for most policies. Then, there are other expenses like wedding gifts, birthday gifts, parties, clothes, accessories, food, bills, transportation, travel or vacations.
Eventually, some of those pressures will abate – the student debt will be paid down – and millennials will be earning more. But they will be older, and the value of each dollar they save by that stage will be less. In any event, new financial pressures will arrive on the scene, in the form of children, the need to save for a house, to help out ageing parents. Perhaps there is some creative way to tackle this. To the extent that the cost of obtaining an education means that millennials can’t start saving for retirement when it’s most advantageous for all of society that they should, maybe there’s a way to restructure or postpone debt payments until later in life as long as graduates begin contributing to
their retirement accounts.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com
The Financial Times with a survey concluded that millennials are prioritizing short-term spending over long-term saving. According to one calculation, the average 25-year-old should be saving £800 (or about $1,146) a month over the next 40 years, in order to retire at 65 with an annual income of £30,000. That piece went viral. For all the wrong reasons. As millennials who responded angrily to the article noted, they’re too busy buying groceries or paying rent to even think about being able to have that much money to allocate to a savings account. But ignoring the tone deafness, there is a real problem here.
T Rowe Price recommends that millennials should save about 15% of their incomes for retirement. However, a recent survey found that on average, while they are doing a good job of budgeting and say they have increased their savings in the past 12 months, their actual savings rate is about 8%. Financial planners can puff and huff about results like that. They can argue that millennials don’t realize how much they need to save; that they are succumbing to one of those behavioural finance phenomena by failing to appreciate that yes, one day they, too, will be 65 and need a retirement nest egg. For their part, the millennials might well argue that the rest of us simply don’t understand their new normal.
It has always been true, and remains true today, that a dollar someone puts aside in a tax-sheltered retirement account when he is 25 years old will be worth much, much more then that same dollar would be if he had set it aside at the age of 50, thanks to the fact that it is sitting there are being reinvested, year after year, tax-free. What someone in their 20s loses in absolute wealth, they earn in terms of time. The problem is that there are too many other factors stopping millennials from making that decision to save.
They have got the millennial paradox to contend with. In 2014, the average college student graduated with $33,000 of student debt, according to one calculation. Do you want to be one of those students who defaults on her student debt, just in order to have a few extra bucks to put into her retirement account? Really, not a viable solution; those payments have to be kept up, even if it means there’s no money for a retirement account. The cost of living is climbing, too, led by rental costs, which hit records in many cities last year. On average, millennials who rent nationwide would have had to spend 30% of their monthly income to their landlords. Health insurance? If your company offers it, odds are it’s a benefit that requires you to shoulder a greater portion of the costs of these days. And if you’re older than 26, and paying for your own healthcare, you’ve already discovered that both premiums and deductibles are rising for most policies. Then, there are other expenses like wedding gifts, birthday gifts, parties, clothes, accessories, food, bills, transportation, travel or vacations.
Eventually, some of those pressures will abate – the student debt will be paid down – and millennials will be earning more. But they will be older, and the value of each dollar they save by that stage will be less. In any event, new financial pressures will arrive on the scene, in the form of children, the need to save for a house, to help out ageing parents. Perhaps there is some creative way to tackle this. To the extent that the cost of obtaining an education means that millennials can’t start saving for retirement when it’s most advantageous for all of society that they should, maybe there’s a way to restructure or postpone debt payments until later in life as long as graduates begin contributing to
their retirement accounts.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com
Given below are five statements from the first and the second paragraph. Choose the statement which is grammatically or contextually incorrect.
Question 7
Direction: Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words are printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of these.
Agricultural improvements have yielded tremendous results, decreasing the number of undernourished people by 167 million in the last ten years alone. However, these improvements have often been made by increasing the amount of land under cultivation – a practice that cannot continue indefinitely. Agricultural expansion has also come at a price: soil erosion, deforestation and water pollution – compounded by higher and more volatile global temperatures – have already begun to reduce agricultural productivity. For this reason, Mercy Corps works to ensure agro-systems around the world are economically productive, nutritionally diverse and efficient – both today and in the future.
They help smallholder farmers – farmers with less than 1 hectare of land – and pastoralists develop their production capacity so they can increase productivity and decrease weather environmental shocks and stresses. They also focus on improving agriculture-related products and services by working with traders, input suppliers, processors and government bodies. And their holistic approach extends further – to improving the nutrition of people who consume agricultural products. This might mean increasing a crop's nutritional value by improving how crops are harvested, stored and transported. They also work with families to help them diversify the crops they grow and educating communities about the benefits and conditions of good nutrition. The world’s 450 million small farms — two hectares or less — are home to about 2 billion people, many of whom are among the poorest on Earth. In the countries where Mercy Corps works, agriculture provides the main source of household income and is the primary means of food security for 57 percent of the population. These people face incredible obstacles: soaring prices for food, seeds and other supplies; outdated technology; unfavorable or limited access to markets and financial services; and poor soil and water resource management.
However, with the right investments and development assistance, these small farmers hold the potential not only to improve their lives but also to contribute to a safer, healthier and more secure food and agriculture system for everyone.
Agricultural improvements have yielded tremendous results, decreasing the number of undernourished people by 167 million in the last ten years alone. However, these improvements have often been made by increasing the amount of land under cultivation – a practice that cannot continue indefinitely. Agricultural expansion has also come at a price: soil erosion, deforestation and water pollution – compounded by higher and more volatile global temperatures – have already begun to reduce agricultural productivity. For this reason, Mercy Corps works to ensure agro-systems around the world are economically productive, nutritionally diverse and efficient – both today and in the future.
They help smallholder farmers – farmers with less than 1 hectare of land – and pastoralists develop their production capacity so they can increase productivity and decrease weather environmental shocks and stresses. They also focus on improving agriculture-related products and services by working with traders, input suppliers, processors and government bodies. And their holistic approach extends further – to improving the nutrition of people who consume agricultural products. This might mean increasing a crop's nutritional value by improving how crops are harvested, stored and transported. They also work with families to help them diversify the crops they grow and educating communities about the benefits and conditions of good nutrition. The world’s 450 million small farms — two hectares or less — are home to about 2 billion people, many of whom are among the poorest on Earth. In the countries where Mercy Corps works, agriculture provides the main source of household income and is the primary means of food security for 57 percent of the population. These people face incredible obstacles: soaring prices for food, seeds and other supplies; outdated technology; unfavorable or limited access to markets and financial services; and poor soil and water resource management.
However, with the right investments and development assistance, these small farmers hold the potential not only to improve their lives but also to contribute to a safer, healthier and more secure food and agriculture system for everyone.
Source: https://www.mercycorps.org
Which of the following statement can be inferred from the given passage?
A. Mercy Crops are the cause behind soaring prices for food, seeds and other supplies; outdated technology; unfavourable or limited access to markets and financial services; and poor soil and water resource management.
B. Mercy Corps works with traders, input suppliers, processors and government bodies to focus on improving agriculture-related products and services.
C. With right investments and development assistance, farmers won’t be able to contribute and lose their efficiency to increase the produce as well as contribute to safer and healthier food systems.
A. Mercy Crops are the cause behind soaring prices for food, seeds and other supplies; outdated technology; unfavourable or limited access to markets and financial services; and poor soil and water resource management.
B. Mercy Corps works with traders, input suppliers, processors and government bodies to focus on improving agriculture-related products and services.
C. With right investments and development assistance, farmers won’t be able to contribute and lose their efficiency to increase the produce as well as contribute to safer and healthier food systems.
Question 8
Direction: Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words are printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of these.
Agricultural improvements have yielded tremendous results, decreasing the number of undernourished people by 167 million in the last ten years alone. However, these improvements have often been made by increasing the amount of land under cultivation – a practice that cannot continue indefinitely. Agricultural expansion has also come at a price: soil erosion, deforestation and water pollution – compounded by higher and more volatile global temperatures – have already begun to reduce agricultural productivity. For this reason, Mercy Corps works to ensure agro-systems around the world are economically productive, nutritionally diverse and efficient – both today and in the future.
They help smallholder farmers – farmers with less than 1 hectare of land – and pastoralists develop their production capacity so they can increase productivity and decrease weather environmental shocks and stresses. They also focus on improving agriculture-related products and services by working with traders, input suppliers, processors and government bodies. And their holistic approach extends further – to improving the nutrition of people who consume agricultural products. This might mean increasing a crop's nutritional value by improving how crops are harvested, stored and transported. They also work with families to help them diversify the crops they grow and educating communities about the benefits and conditions of good nutrition. The world’s 450 million small farms — two hectares or less — are home to about 2 billion people, many of whom are among the poorest on Earth. In the countries where Mercy Corps works, agriculture provides the main source of household income and is the primary means of food security for 57 percent of the population. These people face incredible obstacles: soaring prices for food, seeds and other supplies; outdated technology; unfavorable or limited access to markets and financial services; and poor soil and water resource management.
However, with the right investments and development assistance, these small farmers hold the potential not only to improve their lives but also to contribute to a safer, healthier and more secure food and agriculture system for everyone.
Agricultural improvements have yielded tremendous results, decreasing the number of undernourished people by 167 million in the last ten years alone. However, these improvements have often been made by increasing the amount of land under cultivation – a practice that cannot continue indefinitely. Agricultural expansion has also come at a price: soil erosion, deforestation and water pollution – compounded by higher and more volatile global temperatures – have already begun to reduce agricultural productivity. For this reason, Mercy Corps works to ensure agro-systems around the world are economically productive, nutritionally diverse and efficient – both today and in the future.
They help smallholder farmers – farmers with less than 1 hectare of land – and pastoralists develop their production capacity so they can increase productivity and decrease weather environmental shocks and stresses. They also focus on improving agriculture-related products and services by working with traders, input suppliers, processors and government bodies. And their holistic approach extends further – to improving the nutrition of people who consume agricultural products. This might mean increasing a crop's nutritional value by improving how crops are harvested, stored and transported. They also work with families to help them diversify the crops they grow and educating communities about the benefits and conditions of good nutrition. The world’s 450 million small farms — two hectares or less — are home to about 2 billion people, many of whom are among the poorest on Earth. In the countries where Mercy Corps works, agriculture provides the main source of household income and is the primary means of food security for 57 percent of the population. These people face incredible obstacles: soaring prices for food, seeds and other supplies; outdated technology; unfavorable or limited access to markets and financial services; and poor soil and water resource management.
However, with the right investments and development assistance, these small farmers hold the potential not only to improve their lives but also to contribute to a safer, healthier and more secure food and agriculture system for everyone.
Source: https://www.mercycorps.org
Which practice does the author refer to when he/she says, “a practice that cannot continue indefinitely”?
Question 9
Direction: Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words are printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of these.
Agricultural improvements have yielded tremendous results, decreasing the number of undernourished people by 167 million in the last ten years alone. However, these improvements have often been made by increasing the amount of land under cultivation – a practice that cannot continue indefinitely. Agricultural expansion has also come at a price: soil erosion, deforestation and water pollution – compounded by higher and more volatile global temperatures – have already begun to reduce agricultural productivity. For this reason, Mercy Corps works to ensure agro-systems around the world are economically productive, nutritionally diverse and efficient – both today and in the future.
They help smallholder farmers – farmers with less than 1 hectare of land – and pastoralists develop their production capacity so they can increase productivity and decrease weather environmental shocks and stresses. They also focus on improving agriculture-related products and services by working with traders, input suppliers, processors and government bodies. And their holistic approach extends further – to improving the nutrition of people who consume agricultural products. This might mean increasing a crop's nutritional value by improving how crops are harvested, stored and transported. They also work with families to help them diversify the crops they grow and educating communities about the benefits and conditions of good nutrition. The world’s 450 million small farms — two hectares or less — are home to about 2 billion people, many of whom are among the poorest on Earth. In the countries where Mercy Corps works, agriculture provides the main source of household income and is the primary means of food security for 57 percent of the population. These people face incredible obstacles: soaring prices for food, seeds and other supplies; outdated technology; unfavorable or limited access to markets and financial services; and poor soil and water resource management.
However, with the right investments and development assistance, these small farmers hold the potential not only to improve their lives but also to contribute to a safer, healthier and more secure food and agriculture system for everyone.
Agricultural improvements have yielded tremendous results, decreasing the number of undernourished people by 167 million in the last ten years alone. However, these improvements have often been made by increasing the amount of land under cultivation – a practice that cannot continue indefinitely. Agricultural expansion has also come at a price: soil erosion, deforestation and water pollution – compounded by higher and more volatile global temperatures – have already begun to reduce agricultural productivity. For this reason, Mercy Corps works to ensure agro-systems around the world are economically productive, nutritionally diverse and efficient – both today and in the future.
They help smallholder farmers – farmers with less than 1 hectare of land – and pastoralists develop their production capacity so they can increase productivity and decrease weather environmental shocks and stresses. They also focus on improving agriculture-related products and services by working with traders, input suppliers, processors and government bodies. And their holistic approach extends further – to improving the nutrition of people who consume agricultural products. This might mean increasing a crop's nutritional value by improving how crops are harvested, stored and transported. They also work with families to help them diversify the crops they grow and educating communities about the benefits and conditions of good nutrition. The world’s 450 million small farms — two hectares or less — are home to about 2 billion people, many of whom are among the poorest on Earth. In the countries where Mercy Corps works, agriculture provides the main source of household income and is the primary means of food security for 57 percent of the population. These people face incredible obstacles: soaring prices for food, seeds and other supplies; outdated technology; unfavorable or limited access to markets and financial services; and poor soil and water resource management.
However, with the right investments and development assistance, these small farmers hold the potential not only to improve their lives but also to contribute to a safer, healthier and more secure food and agriculture system for everyone.
Source: https://www.mercycorps.org
Which of the following best describes the author’s view regarding the agricultural improvements?
Question 10
Direction: Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words are printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of these.
Agricultural improvements have yielded tremendous results, decreasing the number of undernourished people by 167 million in the last ten years alone. However, these improvements have often been made by increasing the amount of land under cultivation – a practice that cannot continue indefinitely. Agricultural expansion has also come at a price: soil erosion, deforestation and water pollution – compounded by higher and more volatile global temperatures – have already begun to reduce agricultural productivity. For this reason, Mercy Corps works to ensure agro-systems around the world are economically productive, nutritionally diverse and efficient – both today and in the future.
They help smallholder farmers – farmers with less than 1 hectare of land – and pastoralists develop their production capacity so they can increase productivity and decrease weather environmental shocks and stresses. They also focus on improving agriculture-related products and services by working with traders, input suppliers, processors and government bodies. And their holistic approach extends further – to improving the nutrition of people who consume agricultural products. This might mean increasing a crop's nutritional value by improving how crops are harvested, stored and transported. They also work with families to help them diversify the crops they grow and educating communities about the benefits and conditions of good nutrition. The world’s 450 million small farms — two hectares or less — are home to about 2 billion people, many of whom are among the poorest on Earth. In the countries where Mercy Corps works, agriculture provides the main source of household income and is the primary means of food security for 57 percent of the population. These people face incredible obstacles: soaring prices for food, seeds and other supplies; outdated technology; unfavorable or limited access to markets and financial services; and poor soil and water resource management.
However, with the right investments and development assistance, these small farmers hold the potential not only to improve their lives but also to contribute to a safer, healthier and more secure food and agriculture system for everyone.
Agricultural improvements have yielded tremendous results, decreasing the number of undernourished people by 167 million in the last ten years alone. However, these improvements have often been made by increasing the amount of land under cultivation – a practice that cannot continue indefinitely. Agricultural expansion has also come at a price: soil erosion, deforestation and water pollution – compounded by higher and more volatile global temperatures – have already begun to reduce agricultural productivity. For this reason, Mercy Corps works to ensure agro-systems around the world are economically productive, nutritionally diverse and efficient – both today and in the future.
They help smallholder farmers – farmers with less than 1 hectare of land – and pastoralists develop their production capacity so they can increase productivity and decrease weather environmental shocks and stresses. They also focus on improving agriculture-related products and services by working with traders, input suppliers, processors and government bodies. And their holistic approach extends further – to improving the nutrition of people who consume agricultural products. This might mean increasing a crop's nutritional value by improving how crops are harvested, stored and transported. They also work with families to help them diversify the crops they grow and educating communities about the benefits and conditions of good nutrition. The world’s 450 million small farms — two hectares or less — are home to about 2 billion people, many of whom are among the poorest on Earth. In the countries where Mercy Corps works, agriculture provides the main source of household income and is the primary means of food security for 57 percent of the population. These people face incredible obstacles: soaring prices for food, seeds and other supplies; outdated technology; unfavorable or limited access to markets and financial services; and poor soil and water resource management.
However, with the right investments and development assistance, these small farmers hold the potential not only to improve their lives but also to contribute to a safer, healthier and more secure food and agriculture system for everyone.
Source: https://www.mercycorps.org
Which of the following is the MOST SIMILAR to the word given in bold in the passage?
Tremendous
Tremendous
- 272 attempts
- 0 upvotes
- 1 comment
May 19CAT & MBA
