About This Quiz
Don't let the chumps in the accounting department brag about their mad amortization skills. Show them who's the boss with our amortization quiz.Nothing takes the fun out of home buying like a real estate agent asking you to sign a death pledge.
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It might take you 30 years, but at least you'll pay that loan off (principal and interest) completely.
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That's the beauty of amortization; every single monthly mortgage payment is the same.
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Accounting may not be a sexy profession, but it can help you afford a sexy car.
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The traditional 30-year fixed mortgage was created by the Federal Housing Authority during the Great Depression.
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Mortgages before the 1930s only covered 50 percent of the cost of the house, so only 40 percent were home owners.
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It requires some high-school level math, but the only numbers you really need are the loan amount, the interest rate and the term (or length) of the loan.
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Only a mortgage with a fixed interest rate and term can be self-amortizing.
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If you didn't get that one, may we suggest an investment in a calculator?
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The amount of interest you pay over the life of the loan is the really scary part.
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Up until year 16, every monthly payment you make is more than 50 percent interest.
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Yes, you end up paying nearly twice as much for the house when you spread out the payments over 30 years.
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Since accounts can get overly "creative," the industry has established a set of generally accepted accounting principles called GAAP. This is used in accrual accounting.
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Cash accounting, popular with small businesses, only reports transactions when the money changes hands.
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Depreciation can only be used to spread out the costs of tangible goods. Amortization covers all "intangible" assets.
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Seventeen years is the maximum legal life, although the useful life of a patent can be shorter.
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Amortization only covers intangible assets. Some others are patents, trademarks and something called goodwill.
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After assets and liabilities, the third most important item on a balance sheet is ownership equity.
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Sometimes an asset is worth more to a company than its cash value. Amortization of goodwill allows businesses to absorb the cost over a few balance sheets.
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If you picked Section 197 , then you're either an accountant, a cheater or both.
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