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Take the Risky Business Money Quiz

Financial misfortune can strike anytime. Do you know the threats you face?

George Mannes

En español

Published October 18, 2019

9 Questions

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Take the Risky Business Money Quiz

[ {
  "question" : "Which of these two events has a greater chance of occurring: You win a $50,000 Powerball payout after buying one ticket, or you get struck by lightning sometime in the next year?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "You win $50,000.",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "You get struck by lightning.",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Congrats! The chances of being hit by lightning are 1 in 1.2 million, but your chances of winning $50,000 at Powerball are better: 1 in 913,000. Sadly, you have only a 1 in 292 million shot at the jackpot.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "A mutual fund that you hold drops in value by 20 percent. How much will it have to increase in value to return to its original price?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "15 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "20 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "25 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Say shares cost $100. After falling 20 percent, they’re worth $80. The $20 required to reach $100 is one-fourth of $80, or 25 percent.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "At your local bank you have a $300,000 joint account with your spouse, $100,000 in CDs in your name only, and, in a safe deposit box, $50,000 in cash. A meteorite obliterates the bank, which fails. How much will the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. give you and your spouse?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "$250,000",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "$350,000",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "$400,000",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "$450,000",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "The FDIC insures up to $250,000 per person per account type. So your $100,000 in CDs is covered, as are both your and your spouse’s $150,000 portions of the joint account (since each portion is insured up to $250,000). The FDIC, though, doesn’t cover contents of safe deposit boxes.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "Which of these activities leads to more home fires in the United States?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Cooking",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Smoking",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Smoking causes the most home-fire deaths, but cooking fires, which do an average of $6,600 in damage, are the most common home fires, reports the National Fire Protection Association. About a third of cooking fires get started when no one is in the kitchen.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "According to a recent AARP Foundation survey, what percentage of people who had been direct sellers for a multilevel marketing company said they lost money as a result?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "27 percent ",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "37 percent ",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "47 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Twenty-seven percent said they broke even, and 25 percent said they made money.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "You’re figuring out how to invest your retirement savings. How many individual stocks do you need to own to have what’s known as a diversified portfolio (the investment equivalent of not having too many eggs in one basket)?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "15",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "30",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "55",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "110",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "A 2014 study found that you need at least 110 stocks for maximal safety. Buying broad-market mutual funds is an easier way to diversify.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "Five years ago a violation for texting while driving would raise your insurance rates about 1 percent, the insurance website the Zebra reports. How much will it raise your rates now?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "5 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "10 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "15 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "20 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Your rates will rise an average of 20 percent, or $289, according to the Zebra—and more than 50 percent in some states.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "Among women in their 50s, which group is at greater risk of a lower standard of living in retirement, per a recent study by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Single women",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Married women",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "One reason why, says the center, is that two-earner couples tend to undersave for retirement. In about half of these couples, only one of the earners has a retirement plan and may not save enough for both spouses.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "Out of the blue, you receive a phone call from the IRS saying that you must immediately pay $5,000 or you will be arrested. What are the chances that this call is legitimate?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "0 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "50 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "75 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "This goes for an angry phone call from the Social Security Administration, too.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
} ]

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