Mature Life Features

. . . you’re getting old when,

The Heat arrives and

you have to ask yourself

if you want a nice dish of ice cream

or a nice cold glass of beer.

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Test Your Financial IQ

So your braggart broker brother-in-law bugs you about not taking his advice and making a billion in the stock market. Or you think you have all the answers to present and possible problems in your financial future.

A financial IQ test published in Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine could put both of you to the test with a few basic questions that examine some rudimentary tenets of a sound personal fiscal policy.

A fun question asked how big a check you think you would get if you chose the cash option after winning a lottery jackpot of $100 million but had to split it with another person who also had the winning lottery number. After cutting the winnings in half and choosing a one-time cash payment, you would get a check for about $20 million.

By taking the one-time payout instead of monthly payments over 30 years, the prize amount is whittled down based on what is known as the “time value of money” according to a formula comparing the worth of today’s dollars against $1 three decades from now. This cuts your half-share of the lottery winnings to about $27 million, of which the Internal Revenue Service will claim some 25 percent. And then there are layers of other state and federal taxes to cut through before being able to tote your final total to the bank.

Then there’s the question about remarrying after your spouse of several decades has died. Should you marry the person who has emerged in your life as a possible mate or should you just move in and live together so you don’t forfeit Social Security survivor’s benefits based on your late husband’s hefty earnings history.

Go ahead and remarry, the article states. Widows and widowers 60 years and older may remarry and collect benefits based on their deceased spouse’s record if its more than what they’ve earned.

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