1.) You go to see your financial advisor and they tell you that as you get older you should shift your retirement portfolio to a more conservative mixture of stocks and bonds. They tell you that over the years bonds give you a steadier stream of income that will allow you to live more comfortably with less risk. They inform you that stocks are too risky to own the older you get and bonds give you leverage against them to protect you in retirement. Explain why you should fire or not fire this financial advisor.

2.) Interest rates have been known to fluctuate widely over the years throughout history. Discuss why it would be a better idea for the government to slowly raise interest rates instead of reacting to catastrophic worldwide events.

3.) Explain how improper financing principles for a publicly traded company creates a problem between the shareholders of a company and the management of a company. Also include how the ability to manipulate annual statements (including the notes) factor into shareholder actions.

4.) Using the concept of beta and standard deviation, explain why it is highly unlikely that any investor or for that matter pension fund, private equity firm, venture capitalist, or anyone on TV shows(Hint: American Greed, Shark Tank) could ever beat the market average.