According to Susan Benson's value averaging strategy, how many shares should she purchase in the second month if aiming to increase value by $5,000?

In Susan Benson's value averaging strategy, the goal is to increase the value of an investment by a predetermined amount over a specific timeframe. If she aims to increase the value by $5,000 in the second month, the number of shares she buys depends on the price per share during that month.

To determine the correct choice, we can consider how many shares would need to be purchased to achieve that $5,000 increase based on the market value of each share. If the price of each share at the time of purchase is $9.09 (which is a relevant calculation assuming the average price), dividing the total value increase by the price per share gives us:

$5,000 ÷ $9.09 ≈ 550 shares.

This calculation shows that in order to increase her investment value by $5,000 in that month, buying 550 shares at that price aligns perfectly with her strategy, making it the right answer.

Therefore, the choice of 550 shares reflects the necessary calculation of shares needed to meet the targeted value increase under the parameters of the value averaging strategy.