Posted on 11/26/2004 6:35:23 AM PST by BenLurkin
Take this quiz to see if your goose is cooked when it comes to handling your money.
Question 1: Pick the better investment: A. A super sexy tech stock that gains 80 percent in one year and then loses 50 percent the next year. B. A snorer stock that gains 5 percent in one year and then gains another 5 percent the next year.
Question 2: At a time when you are carrying $5,000 in credit card debt at 18 percent, your boss announces a company dollar-for-dollar match on your 401(k). You have a limited amount of money, so you have to choose which one to focus on. Your best move is to: A. Make sure you contribute enough to your 401(k) to get the maximum company match; that’s free money you should never pass up. B. Forget about investing for your retirement! You need to get rid of that big honkin’ credit card balance that is running you an obscene 18 percent interest.
Question 3: It’s the holiday season and I’m feeling generous. I give you two gifts to choose from: A. $1,000 a day for 30 days. B. One shiny penny, to be doubled each day for thirty days. (So on the second day you have two pennies; on the third day, four pennies; on the fourth, eight; and so on…)
Question 4: When you invest in a Roth IRA you can’t touch your money until you are 59 ½ years old, or you’ll get stuck paying a 10 percent penalty, as well as income tax. A. True B. False
Question 5: A new federal law gives you the choice on your federal tax return of deducting either your state income tax or all state and local sales tax you paid for the year. A. True B. False
4 of 5, the first one got me. I guess I should retake 6th grade math, hehe.
Hey, I'm not a turkey! A good thing not to be this time of year.
For some reason I find this chick very annoying. She jumps to more conclusions in the first five seconds of a call than Dr. Laura.
Yeah, Bush sucks. < / sarcasm >
Thanks for posting this! The advice in answer #5 is a nice tip on a change I'd heard nothing about:
"In the midst of all the election hoopla, you might have missed the fact that Congress passed - and President Bush recently signed - a new law that is serving many of you a great tax break on a silver platter. For your 2004 and 2005 taxes, you now can indeed choose between taking a deduction on your federal tax return for either your state income tax or all the state and local sales tax you paid during the year. This is a major windfall for residents in the seven states without a state income tax - Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming - as well as Tennessee and New Hampshire, which only tax dividend and interest income. If you're in one of those states, it's a no-brainer.
But if you live in any of the other states, make sure you do the math to see which deduction will save you more. Probably most folks would be better off taking the state income tax deduction. But if you've made some big-ticket purchases and live in a state with a high sales tax, you might save more going for the sales tax break."
Ditto as to annoying
If I had bought a stock that went up 80% in one year, I would put a stop loss provision on the stock, which would trigger at no more than a 5% dip. So I would "crap out" at $17,000 plus, while she would be happy with a gain of 1,125. Who should be the financial advisor here??
ROTFLMAO
I consider it 2-3 as I don't give a rats ass about tax laws. I leave those details to my accountant. That's what I pay him for.
No kidding!
How about paying 18% on credit card?
who (to day) pays that?-notice she doesn't say switch
to lower card -probably cut that interest rate in half.
LOL!
LOL....a least in half. I pay 6.9 fixed on Providian, and prime on Bank One. We ought to start our OWN tv show:)
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