Julie earned a $1500 bonus at work for doing a good job. She placed part of the money in a regular savings account earning 2.5% annual interest. She placed the remaining amount in a money market account earning 5% interest annually. At the end of the year she earned four times more in the money market account than she did in the regular savings account. How much did Julie invest in the money market account at 5% interest? (Express your answer to the nearest dollar)
x * .05 = 4[(1500 - x) * .025]
To solve this problem, let's break it down step by step:
Step 1: Let's assume Julie invested an amount x in the money market account at 5% interest.
Step 2: Since she earned four times more in the money market account than in the regular savings account, the interest earned in the money market account would be 4 times the interest earned in the regular savings account.
Step 3: We know that the regular savings account earned 2.5% annual interest. So, the interest earned in the regular savings account would be 0.025x (2.5% expressed as a decimal).
Step 4: We also know that the money market account earned 5% annual interest. So, the interest earned in the money market account would be 0.05 * x (5% expressed as a decimal).
Step 5: According to the problem, Julie invested a total of $1500, which can be expressed as the sum of her investments in the regular savings account and the money market account: x + (1500 - x) = 1500.
Step 6: Solving this equation, we find that x = 600.
Therefore, Julie invested approximately $600 in the money market account at 5% interest.