As you fit investing for the future into your personal financial plan, you should consider
before investing into long term assets like stocks and bonds.
a) your near term cash needs
b) your near term major expenses like home purchase
c) your willingness and tolerance to bear risk
d) all of the above should be considered

Acompany that makes shopping carts for supermarkets and other stores recently purchased some new equipment that reduces the labor content of the jobs needed to produce the shopping carts. prior to buying the new equipment, the company used 6 workers, who produced an average of 79 carts per hour. workers receive $16 per hour, and machine coast was $49 per hour. with the new equipment, it was possible to transfer one of the workers to another department, and equipment cost increased by $11 per hour while output increased by four carts per hour. a) compute the multifactor productivity (mfp) (labor plus equipment) under the prior to buying the new equipment. the mfp (carts/$) = (round to 4 decimal places). b) compute the productivity changes between the prior to and after buying the new equipment. the productivity growth = % (round to 2 decimal places)

Here are the expected cash flows for three projects: cash flows (dollars) project year: 0 1 2 3 4 a − 6,100 + 1,275 + 1,275 + 3,550 0 b − 2,100 0 + 2,100 + 2,550 + 3,550 c − 6,100 + 1,275 + 1,275 + 3,550 + 5,550 a. what is the payback period on each of the projects? b. if you use a cutoff period of 2 years, which projects would you accept?

Speedy auto repairs uses a job-order costing system. the company’s direct materials consist of replacement parts installed in customer vehicles, and its direct labor consists of the mechanics’ hourly wages. speedy’s overhead costs include various items, such as the shop manager’s salary, depreciation of equipment, utilities, insurance, and magazine subscriptions and refreshments for the waiting room. the company applies all of its overhead costs to jobs based on direct labor-hours. at the beginning of the year, it made the following estimates: direct labor-hours required to support estimated output 20,000 fixed overhead cost $ 350,000 variable overhead cost per direct labor-hour $ 1.00 required: 1. compute the predetermined overhead rate. 2. during the year, mr. wilkes brought in his vehicle to replace his brakes, spark plugs, and tires. the following information was available with respect to his job: direct materials $ 590 direct labor cost $ 109 direct labor-hours used 6