FINRA Financial Literacy Quiz

[FI50]

My college freshmen niece has been talking to me about FIRE and investments. After our discussions, she put 6k in her Roth IRA. She got 6/6. Then I looked at the GA average 2.7? Any other states score lower?

 

[Planner]

Thanks. Got 6/6. The last question stopped me as I thought they were looking for a really "simple" answer based on the simplicity of most of the questions. In the end, I went with the literal, mathematical answer and was correct....

 

[JJpop]

Looks like we need a little more basic financial education in our schools.

 

[CrazyHamsterLady]

6/6. Although the mortgage question gave me pause… rate on 30 year vs. 15 year was not specified. What if the lender on the 15-year had a hugely inflated interest rate, points, or some other shenanigans factored in as "gotcha" clauses? Then again, I'm a suspicious person.

 

[morriss003]

Could it have been any easier?

 

[jayanu]

Simple test for most of you smarty pants. It's only 6 Qs, but my fellow Texans averaged only 2.9 correct! I am embarrassed for them.

Have fun.

https://www.usfinancialcapability.org/quiz.php

This was easy 6/6 correct. PA average was 3.

 

[CRLLS]

I got 5/6. Again, the bonus question got me. Not because I don't know and often use the rule of 72, but because I misread the question as how long would it take to pay it off. Evidently I jumped to answer.

 

[myself]

Simple test for most of you smarty pants. It's only 6 Qs, but my fellow Texans averaged only 2.9 correct! I am embarrassed for them.

Have fun.

https://www.usfinancialcapability.org/quiz.php

That was a really easy set of questions. Granted, I wouldn't have been able to answer them when I was say 20 or 30 years younger. LOL

6/6 for me!

 

[myself]

Just remember the rule of 72. Divide 72 by the interest rate and that’s roughly how many years money (or debt) takes to double.

Well, that's one way. The other way is 5 years * 20% = 100%, which is double. That isn't counting the compounding aspect at all, which would reduce it to much less than 5 years because it's such a high interest rate. I guessed it would be about 3 years or so.

 

[myself]

I didn't do any complex calculations... with simple interest it would take 5 years to double...so with compounding the answer has to be less than 5 years ... whcih suggested the 2-4 year choice... and with compounding it would have to be more than 2 years... so 2-4 years had to be the right answer.

That's insane, since I did it the same way!

 

[aaronc879]

After getting a 2.5 GPA in highschool and flunking out of collge I think it's safe to say I have one of the lowest IQ's on this forum. I still got a 6/6 on this test. I'm not good at much of anything when it comes to book smarts but I am good at basic math and finances.

 

[Car-Guy]

Clearly the test is in error... It says I missed one....

 

[Dogman]

A little off topic but I have found that FINRA is simply a tool of the securities companies, brokers, and salesman to protect themselves from wrong doing. FINRA fails to protect individuals. Their arbitration panels are selected from individuals to protect the security industry, if they side with the individual investor most likely they will no longer will hired or removed from the list of judges. FINRA is an organization setup to give a false sense of protection for security firms to list in promotion material. Where in fact no protection is afforded to the individual. Lawyers take care of the rest with small print, print that is not understandable to the normal individual. Protection from securities brokers, is up to you as no laws are in place except the most egregious offenders. Buyer beware!

 

[Wingking]

Simple test for most of you smarty pants. It's only 6 Qs, but my fellow Texans averaged only 2.9 correct! I am embarrassed for them.

Have fun.

https://www.usfinancialcapability.org/quiz.php

Lucky I guess 6/6

 

[scrabbler1]

Well, that's one way. The other way is 5 years * 20% = 100%, which is double. That isn't counting the compounding aspect at all, which would reduce it to much less than 5 years because it's such a high interest rate. I guessed it would be about 3 years or so.

This is how I got the correct answer, too.

 

[KarenF]

Nailed it

6 out of 6

 

[Elbata]

Just remember the rule of 72. Divide 72 by the interest rate and that’s roughly how many years money (or debt) takes to double.

I figured it out old school--Actually did the math.

Reminds me--yesterday I went to Del Taco and on the menu board in the drive thru, there was a paper that said "Shake Machine Not Working". So I told the guy at the window, "someone put a paper on the menu and wanted me to shake the speaker because it wasn't working". My wife had to explain to me that their milkshake machine wasn't working. Yeah, I know, that's why I don't get most jokes.

My guess is that most here would go 6 for 6. A byproduct of why we're here. Years ago to be a substitute teacher in CA, one had to pass what was called the CBEST test. Nice gig for students working there way through college. If I remember right, the test was geared to around a seventh or eigth grade level and the failure rate was ~80% for those taking the test.

 

[eytonxav]

It must of been transplants from other states that pulled down the Texans average.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

It must of been transplants from other states that pulled down the Texans average.

"Must of been"? Ahhh, maybe the performance of Texans on this quiz comes naturally.

 

[stepford]

Cast not grammar flames lest grammar flames be cast at thee.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Cast not grammar flames lest grammar flames be cast at thee.

Unlikely to be a problem. But I appreciate that I could be wrong!

It was not a random grammar correction. I do not "cast grammar flames" lightly. I did not, for example, correct the jarring (yet innocuous) solecism in Elbata's post just above this one; it wasn't relevant to the topic. However, DFW's post asserted that native Texans were, well, smarter than the average bear. Clearly, his or her post belied that assertion. Thus, the error was relevant (and perhaps revelatory!) to the topic.

 

[Koolau]

6/6 and it seemed very basic. If I'd had to make the exact calculations - where appropriate - I might have made a math error. YMMV

 

[Closet_Gamer]

6/6

It would be fun to see a breakdown by profession rather than state. Based on my experience, I would take the under on the typical corporate finance person getting more than 4 right!

All kidding aside, the fact that large swaths of the country can only get 3 (or less) right is pretty tragic, a cause of lots of personal harm/sadness, and a complete indictment of our high school system.

My daughters and I speak often about how ridiculous it is that in order to graduate from our local high school you have to take a class that involves cooking and they want to ensure you can pretend to shoot a basketball, but there is no requirement to understand even the basics of how money works.

 

[Elbata]

Unlikely to be a problem. But I appreciate that I could be wrong!

It was not a random grammar correction. I do not "cast grammar flames" lightly. I did not, for example, correct the jarring (yet innocuous) solecism in Elbata's post just above this one; it wasn't relevant to the topic. However, DFW's post asserted that native Texans were, well, smarter than the average bear. Clearly, his or her post belied that assertion. Thus, the error was relevant (and perhaps revelatory!) to the topic.

It's "bare", not "bear" smarty pants.

 

[REWahoo]

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