Personal financial planning primarily aims to

• Maximize tax payable

• Minimize expenditure only

• Achieve stated life-cycle goals with optimal use of resources

• Time the share market perfectly

Which of the following is not a step in the financial-planning process?

• Establishing goals

• Implementing a plan

• Evaluating advertising campaigns

• Monitoring and revising the plan

The term resource planning in personal finance refers to

• Allocating financial and non-financial resources toward goals

• Forecasting national GDP growth

• Only budgeting household income

• Purchasing real assets exclusively

A positive ‘surplus’ in a cash-flow statement indicates

• Liquidity crisis

• Excess liabilities over assets

• Disposable funds available for investment or debt reduction

• Mandatory dividend distribution

For a young professional in the accumulation life-cycle stage, the typical investment horizon is

• Very short-term (< 1 year)

• Medium-term (3-5 years)

• Long-term (10+ years)

• Undefined because horizons don’t apply

Which demographic factor most directly increases risk tolerance in portfolio construction?

• Higher age

• Dependents increasing

• Stable high income and long time horizon

• Approaching retirement

During the recession phase of a trade cycle, investors generally prefer

• High-beta growth stocks

• Speculative derivatives

• Defensive assets such as high-quality bonds or gold

• Leveraged real-estate deals

An Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) backed by physical gold gives the retail investor all of the following benefits except

• Ease of liquidity on stock exchanges

• Elimination of storage and security costs

• Guaranteed above-inflation real return each year

• Transparent pricing close to international spot rates

Which one of these is not a real asset?

• Residential apartment

• Corporate bond

• Agricultural land

• Platinum bullion

A primary merit of real estate as an investment is

• Perfect divisibility

• High liquidity at any time

• Potential for rental income and capital appreciation

• Zero transaction costs