Quiz: What's Your Financial Age?

1. Do you have an eight-month emergency fund?

• Yes
• No

2. Do you have all four essential documents in place: a will, living revocable trust, durable power of attorney for healthcare, and financial power of attorney?

• Yes
• No

3. If your employer offers a matching contribution to a retirement plan, do you contribute enough to qualify for the maximum match? Or if you don't have matching contributions through work, are you contributing to your IRA?

• Yes
• No

4. In the past 12 months, have you paid every bill on time (and if you're in debt, are those payments high enough to help reduce your debt)?

• Yes
• No

5. In the past 12 months, have you used annualcreditreport.com to obtain free credit reports from the three major credit bureaus, and confirmed that the information is correct and clear of any suspicious activity?

• Yes
• No

6. When it comes to planning for retirement, where do you stand?

• I know saving is important for my future, but I haven't started yet.
• I'm saving as much as possible, but I don't know if I'm on track.
• I've crunched the numbers to understand how much I will need to retire comfortably, and I know what I need to be saving today to have a good shot at meeting that goal.

7. Someone begs you to cosign a loan. You say yes:

• If it's someone you really love and trust.
• If you have enough extra savings to treat the loan as a gift, if it came to that.
• If the borrower agrees to make automated payments and send you an electronic confirmation at least seven days before each due date.

8. Sally spends $100 a week on groceries. If inflation averages 3.5 percent a year for the next 20 years, how much will those groceries cost Sally in 20 years?

• Math makes me wince, but I know it's more than $100.
• $170
• Nearly $200

9. Erica and James are in their 30s with one child and annual living expenses of $38,000. James is a stay-at-home dad, and Erica has a great job that pays $75,000 a year. She has a life insurance policy through work, with a death benefit equal to one year's salary. What size death benefit should they consider when purchasing additional life insurance?

• 25 times their annual living expenses, or $950,000.25 times their annual living expenses, or $950,000.
• $950,000 on Erica's life and an additional policy on James's life as well.
• They don't need to buy extra life insurance. The company policy is plenty.

10. What percentage of women who are 65 years old today will still be alive at 85?

• 10 percent
• 25 percent
• 50 percent

11. What would be considered a good FICO credit score?

• I am not buying a home or a car, so I don't need to know this.
• Anything above 700.
• 740 or higher.

12. A friend has $20,000 in credit card debt and the interest rate is above 20 percent. Your advice is to:

• Pay at least the minimum due each month, and scour the budget to see if she can curb spending and pay even a bit more.
• Take a withdrawal from her 401(k) or IRA; paying off debt that carries such a superhigh interest rate is one of the few times it's okay to borrow against your future.
• Contact the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (nfcc.org) to get professional advice on whether she qualifies for a debt management plan.