STEP 1: Print out the Quiz and circle your answer:

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2 What s Your Money IQ? Are you a little nervous about the state of your finances these days? You re not alone. The sad fact is that financial education isn t a mandatory class in most high schools or colleges. Yet, money touches many aspects of our lives, such as our careers, lifestyles, self-images, marriages, families, and even our health. So we grow up in years, but we usually never grow up ourselves when it comes to money. Take the quick quiz below to test your money IQ to gain insights on what you know (or don t yet know) about budgeting, credit scores, bank accounts, and investing, to name a few, and what you need to learn. While you re taking this quiz, pick the best answer, but also consider what you are doing currently. This measures your Money IQ, but wisdom is the application of knowledge. STEP 1: Print out the Quiz and circle your answer: Question 1: What is the best way to track your money? A. Tracking all your expenses through your credit card statements B. Using an App or an Excel spreadsheet C. Checking your bank account before each purchase D. On an abacus (or on my fingers) Question 2: Your personal net income is: A. The money left over after you pay your month s bills B. Your pre-tax income C. The money you make fishing after work. D. Your take-home monies Question 3: How much of your monthly net income should you budget for housing? A. No more than 15% B. No more than 30% C. No more than 45% D. All of it. I deserve the best. 1

3 Question 4: Which of these factors impacts your FICO(R) score the most? A. Length of credit history B. Payment history C. Current total debt D. Requests for new credit Question 5: What should you always have in savings? A. $10,000 B. Three to six months of expenses C. Three month s salary D. A roll of quarters for the slot machine. I m lucky! Question 6: Which of these is NOT a part of the Debt Snowball Method? A. Organizing all debts from largest to smallest B. Once you have paid off one debt, add the payment you were making to the paid off debt to the next debt in line to be paid off. C. Paying off the smallest debt/ largest interest rate first D. Taking out a Home Equity Line Of Credit (HELOC) on your home Question 7: What information does a credit report provide? A. A summary of your financial assets and liabilities B. A detailed report of your credit history C. The credit available to you at financial institutions, mortgage companies, and other lenders D. Nothing I want to know! 2

4 Question 8: By law, you can request your credit report for free how often? A. Every six months B. Every twelve months C. Every two years D. Every decade Question 9: What is a Roth IRA? A. A kind of Individual Retirement Account (IRA) that only employers can open for their employee, which gives them both tax deductions now B. Tax code loophole for Identical Returning Accounts (IRA) that allows employees to avoid federal income taxes C. A kind of Individual Retirement Account (IRA) allowing someone to save after-tax income with earnings tax-free after 59 ½ years old D. Why would I want Roth s IRA? I want my own IRA Question 10: The problem with regular savings accounts is: A. They aren t FDIC-insured B. They re hard to access, they aren t liquid C. Interest doesn t keep up with inflation D. They have penalties for withdrawals Question 11: When calculating your budget, hobbies and entertainment should be classified as: A. Standard procedure B. Fixed expenses C. Flexible/ Lifestyle expenses D. Unexpected/ Cyclical expenses 3

5 Question 12: Stocks, bonds, and mutual funds: A. Are not insured by the FDIC B. Are sometimes available at or through a bank C. May lose value over time D. All of the above Question 13: If all these people earn the same income, who would generally need the most life insurance? A. A retired man and a wife who is also retired. B. A young single woman without children. C. A young single woman with 2 children. D. A retired woman with 13 grand children. Question 14: Your work 401(k) plan has 3 different fund options to invest in, which would be better to do with your contributions? A. Keep it all in a cash fund in case you need to access the money. B. Balance the money across the three options based on fund risk and time till retirement. C. Put 1/3 in each fund to keep the guesswork out of the way. D. Don t put money in a 401(k) -- ever! Question 15: How much do financial professionals suggest you should be saving from your income to prepare for retirement? A. 3-5% B % C % D. Spend it all when you earn it, so you don t have to worry about rising inflation. 4

6 Question 16: If you want to bring in more money, you can: A. Increase your rates/ Ask for a raise B. Provide more value C. Get a side hustle or sell stuff D. All of the above STEP 2: Now, WITHOUT judgement, check the results of your Money IQ quiz: Answer Key: 1. B 2. D 3. B 4. B 5. B 6. D 7. B 8. B 9. C 10.C 11.C 12.D 13.C 14.B 15.B 16.D Tally up your results: Amount Correct Amount Incorrect 16 Total Questions 5

7 STEP 3: Determine which category you are in: Thriver: Correct / 0-2 Incorrect Congratulations! You have a strong understanding of the basics of money and generally have an eye on where your money is and how you re using it. Perhaps from self-study, school, or great parenting, you ve picked up some good money habits and knowledge. You are probably the one others turn to for money support as they see you thriving! Next for you is to ensure you also have skills in creating a powerful money mindset to control emotions around money and to learn advanced skills in setting yourself up for retirement, increasing your income, and understanding insurance options available to you, not to mention when and how you should implement which or any into your life plan. You have real money know-how-- and need to ensure you are really implementing. Survivor: 8-13 Correct / 3-8 Incorrect You ve got some foundational knowledge, but you spend a lot of time just surviving as you are missing some key knowledge to move from getting by to getting ahead. You have a good start on some of the many financial habits, skills, and training that have and will continue to help you be on sound financial footing, but perhaps there are some implementation concerns, or some areas that you haven t learned much about yet, such as creating a life without debt, mastering your money mindset, or sticking to a budgeting method for longer than a few weeks. Let s be honest, something is probably off. Maybe insurance policies scare you, or a mountain of debt constantly weighs on the back of your mind. Let s turn these mountains into speed bumps (or molehills!) instead of letting them stand in your way. Now you are ready to learn the skills that will help you to expand your perspective, own up to your finances, and take control. Denier: 0-7 Correct / 9-16 Incorrect Managing money is tricky and we don t encourage anyone to lie to themselves and say that hard things are easy. It s hard, and there is a lot to know! Taking this quiz was the first step in getting control of your financial future. You are a denier (aka a deny-er ) and may be denying stepping up to your own self-worth (and thus your own wealth in the process), denying that you have skills to learn with money, and have the highest likelihood of getting denied for a credit card! It is not too late (or too early!) to build a foundational knowledge of money. You ll want something step-by-step covering all aspects of money: mindset, earning, tracking, spending, credit, debt, saving, investing, insurance, etc. You need to learn the practical knowledge plus the mindset implementation so that you no longer hold yourself back from taking action and deny you have a problem that can be fixed. (And it can. I 6

8 have helped THOUSANDS of people over 10+ years, so I know progress is possible.) BONUS STEP 4: Here are the answers explained so you can review your responses: Question 1, Answer: B. Tracking your income and expenses frequently is vital to keeping a firm handle on your finances. It may be boring. It might even be a little scary if there s more money going out than coming in, but the best way to get your financial situation under control is to own it by actively tracking your income and expenses. Remember, you can t just use your credit card statement(s) to track without your bank statements because of ATM withdrawals, checks and debit card usage. Your bank account won t consider bills due or credit cards outstanding, and an abacus and your fingers may not be the most up-to-date best tool for tracking money. Question 2, Answer: D. As an employee, your net income is your take-home monies: your paycheck after social security, medicare, income taxes, retirement and other deductions have been withheld. For a business, it is similar but a little different. Net business income is the business revenue less the cost of goods sold, expenses, wages, and business (not personal) taxes for the accounting period. Then, depending on your tax classification, taxes are paid personally on that net business income, to create your personal net income. Separating your business and your personal financial activity is key to creating ease in your related bookkeeping. Overall, make sure you know what money is available for saving or spending is each month. It s the foundation for your financial health. You must know what s coming in before you can develop a plan for your saving and spending. Question 3, Answer: B. You should budget no more than 30% of your monthly take-home pay for your housing. If a bank is willing to approve you for more money on a mortgage, that doesn t mean you should take it. Living within your means is the key to financial well-being. Question 4, Answer: B. Though these are all components of your credit score calculation, they do not all have the same weighting. (Your FICO(R) score is the credit score provided by the Fair Isaac Corporation and is the primary source when you hear people refer to your credit score.) Here are the factors with their relative impact: Payment history is 35% of your credit score. 15% is length of credit history. 30% is current total debt. 10% is requests for new credit. The final 10% is based on your types of credit used. Question 5, Answer: B. Every household should have three to six months of expenses in savings as a cushion in case of job loss or other disaster. Perhaps having a stash of cash isn t as fun as taking that next trip to Disney World, but the peace of mind it provides is worth it. Question 6, Answer: D. What s important is starting small. The positivity and optimism that comes from paying off 3 or 4 small debts quickly can motivate and inspire you to 7

9 keep working hard, and snowballing those smaller payments, into larger debts. Instead of paying extra on several credit cards at once, the Debt Snowball Method provides a strategy to reduce the amount of interest you pay over the life of the debt by reducing the number of outstanding credit cards you have to keep track of, pay off, and service. Question 7, Answer: B. Your credit report is a key aspect of your financial report card. It contains information on where you live, where you have worked, and the credit accounts opened in your name, and if you pay your bills on time. Your credit score is the mathematical representation of your credit report. Question 8, Answer: B. You can, and should, request one free copy of your credit report each year from each credit reporting agency (Trans Union, Experian, and Equifax) to get a sense of your credit standing and check it for incorrect information and evidence of identity fraud. Question 9, Answer: C. Roth IRA s were created for individuals to save their own money, after-tax, up to $5,500 a year. This creates a special-tax free situation for money after a person reaches 59 ½ years old. (Sorry, we made up the choice B tax code loophole for Identical Returning Accounts (IRA) -- would be nice though!) Question 10, Answer: C. Regular savings accounts have their benefits, but one major drawback of keeping your entire stash of cash there is that the interest doesn t usually keep up with inflation. Consider putting savings beyond your emergency funds in places that yield higher dividends and investment returns. Make your money work for you! Question 11, Answer: C. Hobbies and entertainment are considered flexible/ lifestyle expenses. You deserve to have fun, but to keep your fun from breaking the bank, you need to plan for it, or else they ll create unexpected expense problems down the road. Question 12, Answer: D. Stocks, bonds, and mutual funds can return great rewards beyond what a regular savings account offers, but they do come with risks. You can reduce your risk and increase your returns though with a strategic asset allocation approach. Asset Allocation is intentionally spreading your monies across different asset classes so when one category goes down, another will hopefully go up to offset the loss. Question 13, Answer: C. Insurance is generally a tool that helps an individual to fill obligations left if they were to die now. A young single woman with 2 children has child raising costs, possibly a mortgage to finish paying, and may want to help fund college expenses. Question 14, Answer: B. Of many options, balancing money across a diversity of investments can reduce risk and provide a higher return than keeping your money in cash or not saving it at all. With an understanding of how investments work, you can invest AND still sleep well each night! Question 15, Answer: B. Professionals generally recommend to save 10-20% of your income for the standard person to be able to prepare for retirement. This can vary from person to person, but generally 10% (or even 20%) is the sweet spot to fill your financial 8

10 waterpots to hold enough water to last you through retirement. When you re closer to retirement, or started later, you may need to save and invest more. Question 16, Answer: D. All of the above. You likely have A LOT more options than you realize to make more money, but you may be blocking yourself from actually seeing them. (Be sure to check out Lesson #2 in this Workshop for the Rewrite Your Money Story Guide for help with that.) BONUS STEP 5: Notice the particular area that you may need the most help with: Tracking expenses/budgeting: Questions 1, 3, 5, 11 If you ve had struggles with answering some of these questions, perhaps you ve struggled with sticking to your budget, or knowing what are the right numbers to put to housing, insurance, saving for retirement, and more. Don t have big financial regrets like 73% of Americans have, or if you have had them so far, let's fix that! Stay tuned for more ways to learn how to afford what you want, when you want it, and not feel frustrated that you have nothing to show for your years of hard work. Financial vocabulary: Questions 2, 9 If you re concerned about all the financial jargon flying around, stop stressing! There are so many terms that it can add to the already confusing topic of money. Be sure to learn the basic terminology, especially around credit, saving, and investing, so you can be confident and fluent when talking all things money. Credit: Questions 4, 7, 8 Questions surrounding credit score pop up all the time. Article after article online is filled with conflicting information about what a new card will do, or what good credit does for you. Learn the true factors of your credit score and the habits that will make your creditworthiness look good so you can get lower interest rates, cheaper insurance, rent the apartment you want, and, of course, buy a home with a lower interest rate. It s time to stop wasting thousands of dollars a year on interest - to put your money to good use. Savings (and Debt): Questions 6, 10, 16 Savings starts with a willingness and a commitment to create a better future for yourself. If you have debt, then you are essentially redirecting money towards your past (debt) instead of towards your future (savings). It s so easy to look at our net income and say this is all mine to spend, but recognizing concepts like pay-yourself first, planning for expenses, and paying off debts will fast track your savings goals. A sleep at night 9

11 cushion account really can help you sleep better at night with more peace and security. Investing/Insurance, Questions 12, 13, 14 What s a Mutual fund? What makes a stock good? How do I use my 401(k)? What about my IRA? These are just a few questions people have about investing. Also, people often wonder when they should consider buying life insurance, and what reasons there are to buy it. You could benefit from reading up on investing terminology, and then fearlessly start putting away a little more to prepare for retirement. Knowing you re putting away enough to retire will give you even more peace of mind. Income: Question 16 Just because there is only one IQ quiz question on Income does not mean that this is not important to understand. To the contrary. Earning is a skill just as tracking your money is. There are several approaches that can work to earn additional income, many do require a reframing and willingness to step up and speak up for yourself and your value. (More on this in the live webinar!) Remember, you are an awesome money-maker-in-training! Be sure to add a comment back at with your Money IQ aha s, results, or with what having more money would mean to you. Join the conversation in our Private Facebook Group. We ll cheer you on every step of the way! And lastly, please share this new free online workshop to help empower your community at 10

12 So who is this Belinda Rosenblum and Own Your Money, anyway? Belinda Rosenblum is a CPA and Wealth Expert who helps you take charge of your money. She believes life is supposed to be fun, and money is supposed to fund it for you! Belinda left her thriving corporate finance role to transform the way people think, feel, and act with their finances. She founded OwnYourMoney.com and leads a movement to change our entire perspective on money from a source of fear, shame, and judgment to one of joy, ease, and confidence. Belinda s coaching, products, workshops, and speeches address the significant financial stress plaguing most Americans today. Her book, SELF-WORTH TO NET WORTH: 12 Keys to Creating Wealth Inside and Out, provides the compassionate, gentle kick-in-the-pants and step-by-step approach to help you build your financial self-esteem and manage your own financial life. She inspires, educates, and moves people to action so they can once and for all take control of their own financial future. Belinda s Money Makers Academy members are thriving with monthly support, step-by-step training, and an engaged community, holding them accountable to achieving their own goals and dreams. They are managing their money without the overwhelm and confusion so they can have more fun AND pay their bills. And if she s not out talking about financial freedom, Belinda is likely enjoying the sunshine and chasing after her marathon-running husband, 17-year-old step-daughter, and 2 small joyful kids. You can reach Belinda s team at: Info@OwnYourMoney.com or We are here to help. Stay tuned for the next custom resource designed just for you! 11

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