Your nephew has asked you to help him formulate a financial plan for his family. Scott is 27 years old and has been employed as an associate with a law firm for two years. Sarah, his wife, is 26 years old and works in the human resources department of a large corporation. The couple is childless now, but they plan to begin a family in a few years. Together, they have accumulated $10,000 in a savings account and recently inherited $40,000 cash. They expect to be able to start saving at least $5,000 annually since their incomes more than meet their current needs. They each have employer-provided health insurance and retirement plans. Both have excellent upward mobility potential in their careers. They currently pay taxes at the marginal rate of 15%. Scott tells you that although they regularly read some of the more popular financial investment magazines, neither feels particularly knowledgeable about the world of investments. Based on this information, which of the following statements is true?
Explanation
Answer: C - Given that Scott and Sarah already have a nice nest egg started at their relatively young ages and are expecting to be able to contribute more to it, with no obvious need for current income, some of their money should be allocated to bond funds for diversification purposes, but bond funds should be underweighted in favor of stock funds. Purchasing power risk is an issue for them, and bond funds do not provide the inflation hedge that stock funds do. At the current time, municipal bond funds should not be selected since they pay taxes at a low marginal tax rate. This allocation may need to be changed down the road a bit as their tax rate (and other circumstances) change. Only a minimal amount of money should be allocated to a money market fund since the couple has no need for current income, and money market funds offer low returns.
