Financial Literacy
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
50 free Financial Literacy trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Money is the one subject everybody is tested on for life, yet most people leave school without a single lesson in how a loan, a paycheck or a savings account really works. Surveys keep finding that adults stumble on the simplest questions about growing savings, rising prices and spreading risk, and the mistakes that follow are expensive ones. This quiz covers the ground a personal finance class does: planning what to spend and what to keep, choosing and using bank accounts, how lenders judge a borrower, the true cost of borrowing, paying for college, what comes out of a paycheck, how insurance works, and the first steps in investing for the long run. It also meets a few of the scams and traps that are best spotted early. The questions suit middle school, high school and college students checking what they know, teachers who want a ready-made review to play in class or print, and adults who would like a quick check-up on their own money sense. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so a wrong guess still teaches something useful.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which effect turned Benjamin Franklin's £1,000 gift to Boston into almost $5 million over 200 years?
Compound interest
Compound interest did the work: Franklin's will put the money in trust to gather interest for two centuries. His matching gift to Philadelphia had passed $2 million by 1990.
Q 02Which agency, created after a third of US banks failed, insures deposits up to $250,000?
FDIC
The FDIC was set up by the Banking Act of 1933 to end bank runs. Its cover applies per depositor at each insured bank, so money spread across two banks is protected twice.
Q 03Which investing principle is summed up by the proverb about not putting all your eggs in one basket?
Diversification
Diversification spreads money across different investments so that one collapse cannot sink the whole portfolio. The catch is that juggling too many baskets can push up costs.
Q 04Which US pay rule started at just 25 cents an hour under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938?
Minimum wage
Minimum wage law at first covered only employees tied to interstate commerce. Amendments in the 1960s stretched it to large shops, service firms and government staff.
Q 05Which fraud, used by Bernie Madoff, pays early investors with money taken from newer ones?
Ponzi scheme
A Ponzi scheme takes its name from Charles Ponzi, who in 1920 promised huge profits from trading postal reply coupons and simply paid old investors with newcomers' cash.
Q 06Which US credit bureau suffered a 2017 hack exposing the records of nearly 148 million Americans?
Equifax
Equifax revealed the breach in September 2017. The stolen files held names, birth dates and addresses, the details a thief needs to open accounts in someone else's name.
Q 07Which economic force explains why a dollar buys fewer groceries than it did twenty years ago?
Inflation
Inflation is a rise in the general price level, so the same money buys less. Cash savings that earn nothing lose buying power every year that prices climb.
Q 08Which type of borrowing, usually $500 or less and due within weeks, can cost almost 400 percent a year?
Payday loan
A payday loan with a typical fee of $15 per $100 borrowed for two weeks works out at an annual rate of almost 400 percent. The full sum usually falls due in one payment.
Q 09Which process typically strips a new car of 20 percent or more of its value within the first year?
Depreciation
Depreciation bites hardest in the first year and has usually taken more than half of a new car's value within five, which is why a lightly used car can be a smart buy.
Q 10Which program, created under Franklin Roosevelt in 1935, pays retirees from taxes taken out of paychecks?
Social Security
Social Security issued its first monthly benefit check in 1940, to Ida May Fuller, for $22.54. The payroll deductions that fund it appear on payslips under the name FICA.
Q 11Which cash reserve is set aside for surprises such as a car repair, a medical bill or a lost job?
Emergency fund
An emergency fund is kept for unplanned bills. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says even a small one helps people recover faster and stay on track with bigger savings goals.
Q 12Which economics term describes the vacation a family gives up when it chooses to buy a new car instead?
Opportunity cost
Opportunity cost is the value of the best alternative forgone, and it need not be money: lost time or lost pleasure counts as well.
Q 13Which figure on a personal balance sheet turns negative when debts exceed everything a person owns?
Net worth
Q 21Which three-letter figure does the Truth in Lending Act make lenders disclose so borrowers can compare loan costs?
APR
APR, the annual percentage rate, puts the cost of borrowing into one standard yearly figure. On a mortgage it must reach the borrower within three days of the application.
Q 22Which factor counts most toward a FICO credit score, making up about 35 percent of the total?
Payment history
Payment history covers late bills and other black marks on a file. Contrary to a common misconception, age, job status and income play no part in the score at all.
Q 23Which scoring measure divides the amount owed on cards by the total borrowing limit, with lower being better?
Credit utilization
Net worth is everything owned minus everything owed, so paying down a car loan raises it just as surely as adding the same sum to savings would.
Q 14Which kind of financial institution is owned by its own customers, who are called members?
Credit union
A credit union is a member-owned cooperative run to serve its members rather than to maximize profits. In the US its members' savings are insured by a federal agency, the NCUA.
Q 15Which bank charge for spending more than an account holds has needed opt-in on card purchases since 2010?
Overdraft fee
An overdraft fee on a one-off card payment or ATM withdrawal has been barred since July 2010 unless the customer opted in to overdraft protection with the bank first.
Q 16Which bank product pays a higher rate in exchange for locking money away for a fixed term?
Certificate of deposit
A certificate of deposit has a specific, fixed term, and taking the money out before it ends usually triggers a penalty. In return the bank pays more than on instant-access savings.
Q 17Which nine-digit code along the bottom of a US check identifies the bank rather than the customer?
Routing number
The routing number system was devised by the American Bankers Association in 1910 to help sort, bundle and deliver paper checks back to the writer's own bank.
Q 18Which piece of plastic pulls money straight out of the holder's bank account at the moment of purchase?
Debit card
A debit card needs the money to be in the account already, which keeps spending honest. The flip side is that disputing a bad charge is harder once the cash has gone.
Q 19Which budgeting method uses cash instead of bank cards, with a labeled stash for each spending category?
Envelope system
The envelope system has shoppers take only the designated envelope when they buy from a category, which makes it physically impossible to overspend on it.
Q 20Which 1926 book of parables urges readers to pay themselves first by saving a tenth of all they earn?
The Richest Man in Babylon
The Richest Man in Babylon was written by George S. Clason. Its hero Arkad, a poor scribe turned tycoon, tells listeners to spend only nine of every ten coins they earn.
Credit utilization falls whenever a card's limit is raised, even if spending stays the same, because the ratio compares what is owed with what could be borrowed.
Q 24Which free safeguard stops anyone, even the owner, opening new borrowing accounts in a person's name until it is lifted?
Credit freeze
A credit freeze costs nothing to place or lift and does not affect a credit score. Lenders cannot see the file, so a thief holding stolen details cannot borrow in the victim's name.
Q 25Which payoff strategy clears the smallest balance first, whatever its interest rate, for a quick psychological win?
Debt snowball
The debt snowball beat the math in a 2012 Kellogg School study, which found that people who tackle small balances first are likelier to wipe out everything they owe.
Q 26Which word describes the car or house a borrower pledges, which the lender can take if repayments stop?
Collateral
Collateral protects the lender, which is why loans backed by a house or car usually charge far lower rates than borrowing with nothing behind it.
Q 27Which person, often a friend or family member, must repay a loan if the main borrower stops paying?
Cosigner
A cosigner puts their own finances and creditworthiness on the line. If the main borrower misses payments, the lender can demand the money from the cosigner instead.
Q 28Which interest-free window runs from the end of a credit card's billing cycle to the payment due date?
Grace period
A grace period only helps people who pay the balance in full by the due date. Card companies are not required to offer one, though most do on purchases.
Q 29Which starter credit product asks for a cash deposit up front, which then backs the borrowing limit?
Secured card
A secured card usually lets the holder spend up to the amount deposited. Unlike a prepaid card, it is real borrowing, so paying the bill on time helps to build a credit history.
Q 30Which kind of credit check, made when someone applies for a loan, can lower a score, unlike checking one's own file?
Hard inquiry
A hard inquiry stays on a credit report for two years but stops affecting a FICO score after twelve months. Looking up a personal report is a soft pull and costs no points.