Which of the following statements concerning SIMPLE IRAs is correct?

(A) The investment restrictions that apply to traditional IRAs do not apply to SIMPLE IRAs.

(B) Employees who would not be eligible for a 401(k) plan may be eligible for a SIMPLE IRA.

(C) Participants can be allowed to take loans from the SIMPLE IRA

(D) The plan must provide for either a 3 year cliff vesting schedule or a 2 to 6 year graded vesting schedule

Which of the following statements describes eligibility requirements for employees under a SIMPLE?

(A) The plan must cover any employee who earned $600 in compensation for the year.

(B) The plan must cover any employee who earned $5,000 in any two previous years and is reasonably expected to earn $5,000 in the current year.

(C) The plan must cover employees who work more than 500 hours for the year.

(D) The plan must benefit at least 70% of employees who are not highly-compensated employees.

Which of the following statements concerning the Roth IRA is correct?

(A)​Contributions of $5,500 can be made in the same year to a Roth IRA and to a traditional IRA.

(B)​Distributions from a Roth IRA are tax-freewhenever made.

(C)​Contributions to a Roth IRA can be withdrawn at any time without incurring income tax.

(D)​The early distribution excise tax does not apply to distributions from a Roth IRA.

Brian has income of $57,000 for the year, and his wife has no income. Brian is 40 years old and an active participant in an employer retirement plan. If Brian makes a $750 contribution to his wife’s spousal IRA, what is the maximum deductible contribution that he can make to his own IRA?

(A)   ​$1,250

(B) ​$3,250

(C) ​$4,250

(D) ​$5,500

Who of the following is an active participant in an employer-maintained retirement plan this year?

(A)   ​Sam is eligible for the employer’s 401(k) plan but does not defer any salary, and no matching contributions are made for him this year.

(B)​Jim is eligible for the employer’s profit-sharing plan for last year, but the contribution is not made until June of this year.

(C)​George becomes eligible for the employer’snonqualified deferred compensation plan this year (the employer offers no other type of plan).

(D)​Joe is eligible for the entire year this year for the employer’s profit-sharing plan, but the only amount added to his account this year is from forfeitures.

All the following distributions from Roth IRAs are tax-free, EXCEPT:

(A)​Distributions made 5 years or more after the IRA was established and the participant has attained age 59½

(B)​Distributions made 5 years or more after the IRA was established and as the result of the death or disability of the participant, regardless of the participant’s age

(C)​Distributions used to pay $10,000 home-buying expenses

(D)​Distributions used to pay higher education expenses for the participant or his/her spouse

All of the following statements concerning the Department of Labor’s (DOL) involvement in the pension area are correct EXCEPT:

(A) DOL polices the investment of plan assets.

(B) DOL issues final, temporary, and proposed regulations interpreting legislation.

(C) DOL shares the responsibility with the IRS for oversight of prohibited transactions.

(D) DOL offers plan administration and investment advice

Which of the following statements concerning the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is correct?

(A) The PBGC was established by DOL to insure pension benefits.

(B) PBGC insures both defined benefit and defined contribution plans.

(C) PBGC insures minimum benefits if a plan is terminated with insufficient funds.

(D) PBGC is funded by the US Government.

All the following statements concerning prohibited transactions under ERISA are correct, EXCEPT:

(A)​Prohibited transactions generally arise between the plan and parties-in-interest.

(B)​Acquisition of employer securities by a profit sharing plan is a prohibited transaction.

(C)​Self-dealing in connection with plan assets by a fiduciary is a prohibited transaction.

(D)​In the absence of a statutory exemption, payment for services rendered by a disqualified person who is a service provider is a prohibited transaction.

Amy is 52 years old and owns her own business. All of her employees are in their 40s and 50s. Amy pays her employees $75,000 a year and pays herself $100,000 a year as the President of the company. She reinvests the rest of the profits in the company. Which of the following retirement plans should Amy implement if she wants to maximize retirement benefits for herself while keeping her costs low?​

(A)​Target benefit plan

(B)​A cross-tested profit sharing plan

(C)​A defined-benefit plan

(D)​A money purchase plan integrated with Social Security

Which of the following employers would be a good candidate for a SEP?

(A) The employer has many employees who stay for less than 3 years.

(B) The employer has many long term employees who are part-time.

(C) The employer has a group of executives who they want to receive a larger benefit.

(D) The employer has many employees who want to contribute to their retirement.

To create greater diversification in retirement assets, a planner should look for what investments?

​​​​​(A)  ​Low correlations

(B) ​Low risk and high liquidity

(C)  ​Low volatility

Which of the following statements describes effects of early retirement on the benefits that will be received from retirement plans?

​​​​​​​​​(A)  ​Early retirement will mean a reduced final-average salary and fewer years of service under the benefit formula of a defined-contribution plan.

(B)  ​Early retirement will mean the employer will get a deduction earlier for contributions to a nonqualified plan.

(C) ​Early retirement will mean that an employer will continue to bear the investment risk under a defined contribution plan.  

(D) ​Early retirement will mean that an employer no longer bears the investment risk under a defined benefit plan.   

(D)  ​Low coefficient of determination

Once Social Security benefits have begun, a wage earner:

​(A)​No longer needs to pay FICA taxes

​(B)​Must still pay FICA taxes, but at a reduced level

​(C)​Must still pay full FICA taxes

​(D)​Need not pay tax on the benefits

​ Which of the following retirement plans can allow the highest level of contributions for an owner of a small business who is within 10 years of retirement?​​​​​​​​​​​​

(A) ​412(i) plan

(B) ​Money purchase pension plan

(C)  ​ESOP

(D)  ​Age-based profit sharing plan

The current nominal market interest rate for a four-year car loan is 8 percent per year. At the time the loan is made the anticipated annual rate of inflation over the four year period is 3 percent per year. If the actual rate of inflation over the four year period turns out to be 5 percent per year then A. the real rate of interest actually earned by the lender will be 5 percent per year. B. the real rate of interest earned by the lender will be 3 percent per year. C. a borrower who borrowed money to buy a car at the 8 percent nominal rate will gain at the expense of the lender. D. both B and C E. both A and C

Write a short (2-3 page, double-spaced, typed) essay identifying and describing the conditions you observed for a business in Monopolistic Competition or a Differentiated Oligopoly who differentiates their product. Your paper should also provide brief market analysis including the state of the market before and after the differentiation, as well as the observed changes that resulted. Specifically, the following questions should be addressed:

What type of market structure was the product or service in when the differentiation occurred?

What is the differentiation? Describe specifically what the differentiation was and tell us what that means for rational business price and production decisions.

What was the observed change in the equilibrium price and quantity in the market, as well as the company?

Evaluate the result of the observed change from perspectives of efficiency and equity drawing upon price/cost margins for your explanation.

Evaluate whether the decision to differentiate the product was a good move for that business at that time.

Evaluate whether the decision to differentiate the product was a good economic decision for that business at that time. That is, were economic or normal profits realized as a result?

1) The inheritance of curly hair illustrates incomplete dominance. When a curly haired individual reproduces with a straight-haired one, the children all have wavy hair. What offspring would be produced, in what proportions, when two people with wavy hair reproduce?

2) Colorblindness is an X-linked trait recessive disorder. A woman who does not carry the color-blindness allele has children with a man who is color blind. What proportion of their children will be color blind?

3) Huntington disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant disorder. A person who is heterozygous for the Huntington disease allele has offspring with someone who does not have HD. What proportion of their children will have HD?

Suppose you are the brand manager for the JWU Online MBA Program. Design a promotional strategy to grow the program with high potential students. Define your target market. Describe your advertising objectives, messages, and media choices. How might you use communication to build the brand.

(a) Your daughter has expressed a wish to attend university when she finishes school in five (5) years. You anticipate the cost will be $60,000 at the time she commences university. If your financial institution is offering you 4% pa (compounded monthly), how much do you need to deposit in your account each month in order to save the required amount before your daughter commences university?

(b) You have been offered the opportunity to purchase a start up company building electric cars for the Australian market called Green Motors P/L. Your initial investment is $22,000,000.
The term of the project is 5 years. The project has an expected rate of return of 10% pa. All expected cash flows for the project are below and you have an expected rate of return of 10%
pa.

pa.
End of year    Cash flow ($mil)
1 1.8
2 3.0
3 6.5
4 8.4

5 12.3

(i) Based on your required rate of return would you purchase this investment? Present all calculations to support your answer. (2.5 marks)
(ii) Would you change your opinion from (i) if the expected rate of return rose to 15%? Present all calculations to support your answer. (2.5 marks)

In the Benefits vs. Costs worksheet, you looked at how friends might exchange rewards in a relationship. This exchange might occur more easily when friends live near one another, and would occur based on the proximity-attraction principle as we choose friends from those who live close by. However, technology has changed this pattern to some extent, giving us the ability to socialize easily from great distances. List three proximal friendships and three distant friendships and describe how you stay in touch. How do you describe the benefits vs. costs in proximal vs. distant friendships based on your own interactions?

Alex, who is single and works as a caddie at a country club, ask you to help her calculate her tax liability.  She tells you about the following transactions:  She earned $32,000 in wages from the country club, $1,000 of interest income from a savings account. In addition, Alex had a $5,000 L/T capital loss carry forward and gained $20,000 on the sale of a stock. Alex purchased the shares on insider information (an illegal activity) and owned for stock 5 days. In June of the current year, Alex's inherited a 1,000 shares of IBM stock from her aunt. The stock FMV at the time of death was $47,000. Her aunt's basis was $5,000. At the end of the year, the stock had appreciated to $75,000, but Alex did not sell his shares. He had itemized deductions that totaled $9,000. What is Alex's tax liability?