Gyroscopic Investing

http://www.usfinancialcapability.org/submit_quiz.php

I expect perfect answers from the forum members here...

Looks like Montana's in the lead with an average of 3.19 correct answers. Dead last is Mississippi, at 2.53 correct answers.

Yikes.

This is tough.

Are you using tracking software??

The fact that the national average is slightly more than 50% is pretty scary.

A few years ago I might not have known about the inverse correlation between bond prices and yields but the rest of it was pretty simple stuff.

This probably doesn't even capture how financially clueless most Americans are.  Who is taking this quiz?  Probably people on some sort of financial related site, which means they have a higher than average financial IQ.

I'm not confident that 50% of Americans could tell you who the Vice President is, let along understand the inverse relationship between bond prices and interest rates, or real interest rates.

annieB wrote: This is tough.

Are you using tracking software??

I doubt Craig is. But Obama may get your Financial IQ in his next Intelligence briefing.

Ad Orientem wrote:

annieB wrote: This is tough.

Are you using tracking software??

I doubt Craig is. But Obama may get your Financial IQ in his next Intelligence briefing.

Well played sir, well played.

Well, I answered all five questions correctly.  However, I thought the questions would be more difficult than they were.  But then again, a teenager would think I'm dumb because I couldn't tell you who the best singers or movie stars are. 

I weep for anyone who missed any except for the bond question, that one I could forgive since I don't consider that to be common knowledge.  I didn't understand the relationship between bonds and interest rates until I read the PP book.

The low scores would seem to corroborate my observations that the average American has no idea what the hell theyre doing when it comes to money. In my circle of friends, even the ones in middle management banking are pretty clueless.

Everyone that I know who took the test in my state made a 5 out of 5..

Whoa!

Other than the bond question, that was not a hard test.  Based upon helping my son with his homework, it appears to be applying about third grade level math and very simple intuitive reasoning--i.e. for the stock market index question the average of anything tends to be more stable that any of its constituent parts.  You really don't even need to know anything about the stock market to get that one right.

doodle wrote: The low scores would seem to corroborate my observations that the average American has no idea what the hell theyre doing when it comes to money. In my circle of friends, even the ones in middle management banking are pretty clueless.

What are the odds that the average congressman would score 3 or more out of 5?  Too often we forget they're just average schmoes with wealthy backers.  Explains a lot.