Financial Planning Skills Test, Grade 3 | Practical Yields, NISA, and Equity Metrics Cases

General deposits are aggregated per depositor at each financial institution, not protected separately by account. Of the JPY 13 million total principal, JPY 10 million is protected, together with interest and similar amounts through the failure date. Holding an ordinary and a time deposit at the same bank does not double the limit.

Annual interest is 1% of the JPY 1 million face value, or JPY 10,000. The JPY 20,000 redemption gain contributes another JPY 10,000 per year over two years. The yield is therefore (JPY 10,000 + JPY 10,000) / JPY 980,000 × 100, or about 2.04%. Looking only at the 1% coupon omits the gain from buying below face value.

When market rates rise, an existing fixed coupon becomes relatively less attractive, so the bond's price falls. All else comparable, ten-year B is more sensitive than two-year A because its lower relative coupon terms persist for longer. Bonds with different credit quality or embedded features cannot be compared on remaining maturity alone.

The post-distribution NAV of JPY 9,700 is JPY 300 below the JPY 10,000 individual principal, so JPY 300 is a return of capital. The remaining JPY 200 is an ordinary distribution, and subtracting the JPY 300 return of capital reduces the individual principal to JPY 9,700. A distribution is not necessarily all investment profit; a return of capital gives back part of the investor's principal.

A NISA loss is disregarded for tax purposes and cannot offset gains in specified or general taxable accounts. It also cannot receive the three-year loss carryforward, so the JPY 300,000 taxable-account gain is not reduced by the NISA loss. NISA's tax exemption and the inability to use its losses against taxable gains must be understood together.

The initial yen outlay is USD 10,000 × JPY 151 = JPY 1,510,000. The maturity proceeds are USD 10,100 × JPY 146 = JPY 1,474,600. The difference is JPY 1,474,600 − JPY 1,510,000 = negative JPY 35,400. Although interest increased the dollar balance by USD 100, yen appreciation and the conversion spread can still produce a yen loss.

PER is price divided by EPS, so JPY 2,400 / JPY 200 = 12 times. PBR is price divided by BPS, so JPY 2,400 / JPY 1,600 = 1.5 times. PER relates price to earnings, while PBR relates price to book value, so their denominators must not be reversed. Both are multiples, not percentages.

ROE is JPY 200 million of net income divided by JPY 2 billion of average equity, or 10%. The payout ratio is JPY 80 million of dividends divided by JPY 200 million of net income, or 40%. ROE measures profit earned on equity, while the payout ratio measures the share of profit distributed, so their denominators differ.

The purchases acquire 10, 5, 20, and 10 units, respectively, for a total of 45. JPY 40,000 divided by 45 is about JPY 889 per unit; it is not the JPY 1,125 arithmetic mean of the four prices. Fixed-amount investing buys more when prices are low, but it does not guarantee profits and can lose money if prices keep falling.

The portfolio is now worth JPY 2.25 million, so each 50% target amount is JPY 1.125 million. Shares exceed the target by JPY 175,000 and bonds fall short by the same amount, so sell JPY 175,000 of shares and buy bonds. Rebalancing uses the current total times the target ratio; it does not restore each asset to its original yen amount.