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The other day I was at a doctor’s appointment and got a friendly surprise. There was a three hundred question, multiple-choice exam I had to take for my health. Three hundred questions! Oy Vey!
I instantly channeled my twenty year old self and went into exam mode. I grabbed the pencil and made sure it was sharp. I knew I was going to destroy this exam. I put my head down and started filling in those darn little circles with my answers. I felt like I was in a prize fight as my wife fed me water like my manager in the corner of the ring.
After twenty-five minutes, I was done! I finished this exam in record time (or at least that’s what I told myself). I walked up to the front desk and slammed my exam down. “There you go” I said, as I took a deep breath. I joked with the receptionist about having a flash back to my University of Delaware days and how this test will haunt my dreams. Let’s face it, I need something to replace those nightmares where I’m in 7th grade and can’t remember my locker combination! Or, the one where I decide not to go to Spanish class all semester and no one notices. Then I find out that one class is what is holding me back from graduating! “Dios Mios”!
So, why share this with you? Because, it was the inspiration for my next blog post. (See I think about these topics all the time, even when at the doctors). I thought it would be fun to give a pop quiz to test your financial acumen.
Take out that #2 pencil, set that clock, and begin!
1.What is larger the U.S. Stock Market or the U.S. Bond Market?
a. Stock Market
b. Bond Market
2. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has how many stocks in it?
a. 10
b. 20
c. 30
d. 100
e. 500
3. What is the largest market cap stock in the world?
a. Microsoft
b. Exxon
c. Amazon
d. Apple
e. Alphabet
4. If you were getting an 8% rate of return on an investment of $75,000 over five years, which answer would be the largest by the end?
a. One investment of $75,000 earning 8%
b. Three investments of $25,000 earning 8%
c. Five investments of $15,000 earning 8%
d. All equal the same amount
5. Since the beginning of the U.S. stock market data in 1872, U.S. stocks on a total return basis have been negative how many of those one hundred and forty seven years?
a. 10
b. 73
c. 54
d. 39
e. 20
6. Today, the average sales price of homes in the U.S. is approx. $392,900. What was the average sales price in 1987?
a. $78,000
b. $105,000
c. $185,000
d. $133,500
e. $1
7. The first company listed on the NYSE was?
a. General Electric
b. DuPont
c. Bank of New York
d. Google
e. Lloyd’s
8. Who is the largest printer of money in the world?
a. United States
b. Germany
c. China
d. India
e. Monopoly
9. The average lifespan of a $1 bill is?
a. 54 years
b. 18.1 years
c. 9.4 years
d. 5.8 years
e. 2.1 years
10. If you invested $1000 in Amazon in 1997 when it went public approximately, how much money would that have grown to today?
a. $5,013
b. $1,341,000
c. $523,000
d. $1,000,000
e. $8,675,309
Extra Credit! In a room of seventy-five people, what is the probability that two people share a birthday?
a. 5%
b. 25%
c. 50%
d. 75%
e. 99.9%
Pencils down! Time’s up!
How do you think you did? Has taking this exam made you channel your high school or college self? Was it fun? (I certainly had fun making this exam.) Hopefully, you won’t start having those school boy/girl nightmares from taking it. Regardless, my final gift to you today is that you will have to read my follow-up blog to get the answers. Stay tuned until next week.
Until then here is a picture of me visiting my brother at the University of Maryland. Since cell phones with cameras and Facebook didn’t exist then, here is the next best thing. Enjoy!
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