Rule of 70 question

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Rule of 70 question

by rajashree89 » Tue Apr 17, 2012 6:50 pm
A certain company retirement plan has a "rule of 70" provision that allows an employee to retire when the employee's age plus years of employment with the company total at least 70. In what year could a female employee hired in 1986 on her 32nd birthday first be eligible to retire under this provision?
a. 2003
b. 2004
c. 2005
d. 2006
e. 2007

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by Stuart@KaplanGMAT » Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:38 pm
rajashree89 wrote:A certain company retirement plan has a "rule of 70" provision that allows an employee to retire when the employee's age plus years of employment with the company total at least 70. In what year could a female employee hired in 1986 on her 32nd birthday first be eligible to retire under this provision?
a. 2003
b. 2004
c. 2005
d. 2006
e. 2007
Hi!

Since the employee is 32 at the start of her employment, she needs to accumulate 70-32 = 38 "points" to retire.

Each year she works she gets 2 points - 1 for working and 1 for getting a year older. So, to determine how many years she needs to work, we simply divide 38 by 2 to get 19.

1986 + 19 years = 2005 as her year of retirement... choose C!
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by Anurag@Gurome » Tue Apr 17, 2012 8:11 pm
rajashree89 wrote:A certain company retirement plan has a "rule of 70" provision that allows an employee to retire when the employee's age plus years of employment with the company total at least 70. In what year could a female employee hired in 1986 on her 32nd birthday first be eligible to retire under this provision?
a. 2003
b. 2004
c. 2005
d. 2006
e. 2007
The female employee must gain at least 70 points.
Now she has 32 and every year gives her two more points: one for age and one for additional year of employment, so 32 + 2 * (number of years) = 70
(Number of years) = 19
So, 1986 + 19 = 2005

The correct answer is C.
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by aneesh.kg » Tue Apr 17, 2012 9:04 pm
We will try to solve this question using inequalities here:

If Age is A, and the number of years of employment is Y, then following is the condition for retirement:
A + Y >= 70

If her 32nd birthday is in 1986, that means she was born in 1954, and if X is the current year
A = X - 1954,
and Y = X - 1986

(X - 1954) + (X - 1986) >= 70
X >= 1970 + 35
X >= 2005

So, she will be first eligible for retirement in 2005.

(C) is the answer
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