Practice English Vocabulary Exercises – Vocabulary for Banking and Finance: Pensions and other financial products

A. Pensions

A pension is a ¹ sum / quantity of money paid regularly to a person who has reached a certain age or retired. It is usually paid until the ² receiver’s / recipient’s death, although in some cases a ³ widow / wife may continue to receive payments after her husband’s death.

State pensions

Pensions paid by the state. In many countries, these are contribution-based: people who have not paid ⁴ sufficient / satisfactory contributions during their ⁵ work lives / working lives do not receive the full amount.

Occupational pension schemes

Pension schemes for employees working in a particular industry or for a particular company. In some cases, these are administered by insurance companies who invest the ⁶ payments / premiums and use the profits from this to pay out the ⁷ benefits / rewards. In other cases they are self-administered: the premiums are invested by the pension fund ⁸ trustees / trusteds.

Personal pension schemes

Schemes provided by ⁹ pension givers / pension providers such as insurance companies and banks. The premiums are invested in a ¹⁰ pension treasure / pension fund, and on retirement the pensioner receives a ¹¹ lump sum / chunk sum to invest in an annuity (see below). Personal pension schemes are also known as ¹² “private pensions” / “alternative pensions”.

B. Financial products.

Mat the financial product with the benefits.

C. Choose the best word to complete the sentence.

1   A person who gives you information about financial products is a …………………

        a   financial adviser       

        b   financial helper       

        c   financial assistant

2   Some financial advisers only earn money by giving advice. Others earn ………………… from selling financial products.

        a   wages       

        b   payments       

        c   commission

3   An actuary is a person who ………………… insurance risk and calculates premiums.

        a   thinks about       

        b   assesses       

        c   decides

4   When an endowment …………………, you receive a lump sum.

        a   finishes       

        b   ends       

        c   matures

5   Prices go up every year. This is because of …………………

        a   inflation       

        b   expansion       

        c   evolution

6   Some pension payments increase every year ………………… inflation.

        a   in time with     

        b   in line with     

        c   at the speed of

7   Pension payments which increase in line with inflation are …………………

        a   index connected       

        b   index linked       

        c   index controlled

8   Many financial analysts predict a ………………… caused by too many pensioners and not enough workers.

        a   pensions crisis       

        b   pensions disaster       

        c   pensions emergency

9   A small additional pension is known as a …………………

        a   topper pension       

        b   topping pension       

        c   top-up pension

10   Banks and insurance companies are types of …………………

        a   financial institution       

        b   finance company       

        c   financier

11   Pension funds are usually administered by a ………………… of trustees.

        a   group       

        b   bunch       

        c   board

12   Pension funds, insurance companies and other financial institutions that invest on the stock market are known as …………………

        a   commercial investors       

        b   institutional investors       

        c   company investors

13   Individual people who invest on the stock market are known as …………………

        a   private investors       

        b   personal investors       

        c   one-man investors

14   In most countries, financial products and services are ………………… by the government.

        a   watched       

        b   decided       

        c   regulated