Mortgage payments:Can be completely deducted from income for tax purposes.Vary from month to month on a fixed rate loan.Represent high principal payments early in the term of the loan.Are typically tax deductible to the extent that they represent payment of interest.
Long-term care insurance:Is only for the very elderly.Can help protect assets from the cost of a nursing home stay.Is not necessary since Medicare always covers long-term care.Is always available regardless of your past health history.
The P/E ratio:Is the same for all firms in a given industry.Does not change over time.Is typically higher for firms whose earnings are expected to grow rapidly.Is the same as the dividend yield.
A stock certificate:Is always issued to the individual investor.Represents a primary claim on the firm’s assets.Represents ownership in a corporation.Is handwritten.
The January Effect:Is the influence on the market of the mutual funds’ performance reported in December.Is another name for the Superbowl anomaly believed to affect stock prices.Is the result of several studies regarding inexplicably higher returns during January.Supports the predictabilityof cyclical prices determined by chaos theory.(Portfolio Construction, Management and Protection by Robert A. Strong, p. 182.)
Gold may be a good investment if:Inflation is expected to increase.You like the color.World peace comes to pass.Foreign governments sell their gold reserves.
Since the mid-1920s inflation in the United States has averaged:About 3 percent.About 7 percent.About 10 percent.About 12 percent
Buying on margin::Precludes the advantage of using leverage.Is not affected by limits on borrowing established by ERISA.Minimizes losses if the price of a security declines.Is possible by borrowing from a broker.