Personal finance quiz

✓ Right: saving is treated like a bill, so it happens before the money can be spent.

✗ That is spending first, and it usually leaves less for both bills and saving.

✗ That is the opposite: most months very little is left, so the saving rarely happens.

✗ The idea is about the order of saving and spending, not about family or loans.

✓ Right: €1,000 − €745 − €175 = €80, and €80 is 8% of €1,000.

✗ That is the saving share in a 50/30/20 split, not what Marko's numbers give.

✗ That is the share of his wants, €175 out of €1,000.

✗ That is everything except needs, which includes his wants as well as his saving.

✓ Right: big bills are easy to remember, but €2 here and €8 there are usually what surprises people.

✗ No bank rule asks for this; tracking is for your own clear picture.

✗ Tracking does not change your income; it shows how you use it.

✗ Cutting spending while tracking hides your normal pattern, which is what you want to see.

✓ Right: the target is based on essential costs, so 6 × €900 = €5,400.

✗ That is six months of income, but the fund has to cover costs, not replace your whole salary.

✗ That is three months of costs, the low end of the usual range.

✗ That is only two months of costs.

✓ Right: it is safe, easy to reach within a day or two, and separate from everyday spending.

✗ Prices can fall just when you need the money, so it is not safe enough for emergencies.

✗ You cannot get the money back on the day you suddenly need it.

✗ Cash at home can be lost or stolen, earns nothing and loses purchasing power to inflation.

✓ Right: a simple way to see the monthly rate is 24% ÷ 12 = 2%.

✗ 24% is the yearly figure; interest is usually charged each month at a fraction of it.

✗ That would be the rate for half a year, not for one month.

✗ That is 24% divided by 100, not by 12 months.

✓ Right: about €40 of the first €60 goes to interest, so the debt falls slowly and needs 56 payments.

✗ That is €2,000 ÷ €60, which ignores the interest added every month.

✗ Clearing it in 12 months would need a payment of about €200 a month.

✗ That only happens at €40 a month or less, when the payment does not exceed the monthly interest.

✓ Right: avalanche usually costs less interest, while snowball gives earlier wins that keep people going.

✗ Both methods pay the minimum on every debt and put all extra money on one debt at a time.

✗ It is usually the other way round, because avalanche attacks the most expensive debt first.

✗ That is consolidation, a different idea; neither method needs a new loan.

✓ Right: €1,000 ÷ 1.03 to the power of 10 is about €744.09.

✗ That treats 3% a year as a simple 30%, but inflation compounds on a smaller amount each year.

✗ That is roughly the effect of a single year at 3%, not ten.

✗ The note still says €1,000, but each euro buys less, so its purchasing power has fallen.

✓ Right: real return is roughly nominal return minus inflation, so 2% − 3% is about −1%.

✗ That is the nominal return, the change in euros before inflation.

✗ Inflation is subtracted from your return, not added to it.

✗ That would need your savings to earn the same 3% as inflation.

✓ Right: the decision is made once, and most people rarely cancel a transfer that already works.

✗ The advantage is about behaviour, not about a special interest rate.

✗ Automation decides when you save, not what return the money earns.

✗ Automatic saving is a good way to build an emergency fund, not a replacement for one.

✓ Right: a smaller transfer keeps the habit alive, and you can raise it again later.

✗ Stopped habits often never restart, so lowering is safer than cancelling.

✗ Card interest is usually far higher than what savings earn, so this costs you money.

✗ A larger transfer in a tight month is likely to fail and push you into debt.

✓ Right: about €6,339 of growth is added on top of the €12,000 you paid in, if the assumed 4% holds.

✗ That is only what you paid in; at 4% a year the money also grows.

✗ That adds 4% only once, but growth is added every year and compounds.

✗ That is far too high for 4% a year; it would need a much higher return.

✓ Right: caller ID can be faked, and a call you start yourself reaches the real bank.

✗ The number on your screen can be faked, and the code usually approves a payment the scammer wants.

✗ Scammers often have such details from old data leaks, so they prove nothing.

✗ No real bank asks you to move money to a new account to protect it; this is a scam.

✓ Right: victims are often targeted again; report the loss to your bank and the police instead.

✗ Real police do not charge you to investigate or send paid agents to collect fees.

✗ Contact out of nowhere that asks for money first is a warning sign, not good news.

✗ Crypto payments are very hard to reverse, which is exactly why scammers ask for them.