Morningstar tracks the total return for a large number of mutual funds. the following table shows the total return and the number of funds for four categories of mutual funds (morningstar funds 500, 2008). type of fund total return (%) number of funds domestic equity 4.65 9191 international equity 18.15 2621 specialty stock 11.36 1419 hybrid 6.75 2900 a. refer to exhibit 4. using the number of funds as weights, compute the weighted average total return for the mutual funds covered by morningstar. (keep two decimal places, for example, if result is 1.234, round it down to 1.23; if result is 1.235, round it up to 1.24.) the weighted average total return for the morningstar funds is %.

of the three mortgage options that demarco and tanya have to choose from, the balloon payment mortgage would be their best option, over adjustable payment and fixed payment plans.ultimately, the balloon payment plan would save demarco and tanya overall, in interest, would cost less monthly, and they would only have to make these payments for 8 years, opposing to 30 years for adjustable or fixed payment plans. 

overall, demarco and tanya would save $80,811 if they chose balloon payments over fixed payments, and would save $116,711 if they choose balloon payments over adjustable payments. benefits with choosing fixed payments over adjustable payments is that, in the end, the payments will still be $836.30 a month, while with adjustable payments, the initial monthly payments will be $763.38 to $1082.70 a month, ultimately leading to a more costly purchase. benefits with choosing fixed payments over balloon payments are not present. benefits in choosing adjustable payments over is that it has a lower interest rate, and starts with lower monthly payments initially. benefits in choosing adjustable payments over balloon payments include a lower interest rate, and lower initial monthly payments. benefits in choosing balloon payments over fixed payments include lower interest rates, lower overall price, lower monthly payments, takes less time to pay off, and does not require a downpayment. benefits in choosing balloon payments over adjustable payments include, lower monthly payments (when averaged), takes less time to pay off, and lower overall price.

hence, option c, balloon payments, is the best option for demarco and tanya to make this purchase, for it will save them a minimum of $80811, and a maximum of $116,711.