Factors to Consider When Making Investments

John Smith, age 70, is retired. He receives a pension and social security. He supplements his income from distributions from a small investment portfolio that he has accumulated over the years. He hopes that if he withdraws no more than 4% of his retirement savings each year, he will outlive his money.

Mary Brown, is 30 yrs. of age, and a recent M.B.A. graduate working for a large consulting firm. Mary can live quite comfortably on her salary and is able to save 100% of her annual bonus. Mary has approximately $200,000 in savings.

Recently both Mary and John were approached to invest in Toy Builder, an electronic toy and video games company that is about to go public. Mary and John should consider several important factors (Safety and Risk, Investment Income, Investment Growth and Investment Liquidity), before deciding on this investment. There may be other factors (asset allocation/diversification, time, and age) that they may also consider and you should address if you have sufficient information. Would you recommend that either Mary or John put $10,000 into the initial public offering of this stock?

Your response should be at least 6 paragraphs. You might consider organizing it as follows: an introduction, a paragraph on each of the important factors to consider and how Toy Builder fits into that discussion, and a summary. Alternatively, you could do an introduction, then a paragraph each on Mary and Johns situation and the pros and cons of the Toy Builder investment for each of them, then a conclusion.