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| Money Project |
| Mrs. Dana Keiner |
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Personal Budget Project
MY PERSONAL
BUDGET
"The Sky's the Limit"
Objective
| Tasks | Finding Careers
| Finding a House |
Finding a Car | Setting Up Your Budget |
Reviewing the Budget | Evaluation | Additional Resources |
Conclusion
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The objective of this project is for you to set up
a budget that would allow you to live the type of life you would like, as
well as to understand what skills and/or education you need to get there.
This will include finding a house, finding a car, developing a budget, and
finding a career that would match your income needs. This project does
involve doing some calculations and setting up a budget on Excel, but it's main purpose is to allow you to
have fun dreaming of the future while realizing what these dreams may
cost. I also hope you observe certain iron realities about work and
what it takes to be a successful adult.
It is not easy. It takes lots of money!
During this project you will need to fill out
and then print this
worksheet. You will also have a master spreadsheet that will
show all your calculations and contain a working budget. Your
expenses must fall within your income! Be advised!
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You will need to have a partner to complete this
project. Essentially, each of you will be required to set up a monthly
budget. You will be required to set up your budget on Excel,
and then get your information off the internet, noting the sites that you used.
The preparing of the budget will include you finding out what
type of careers will provide
you with the necessary income, and how much education is needed for such a
career. You must construct a working budget with costs less
than expenses.
You will need to find a house
or apartment that you can afford. You can have roommates, if you
need help in covering the monthly rent or mortgage. Next, you must
find a car or other type of transportation, and then set up a budget.
Then you must fill out the
worksheet, print it out, then and discuss it with Mrs Keiner.
After completing the preliminary budget, you will
exchange your budget with your partner. At this point your partner will review the project,
looking for calculation errors and commenting on how realistic the budget
is.
To complete the project,
you will need to make revisions to your original budget, explaining your
reasons for doing so.
If you need additional resources
to complete the project, links are provided below. .
Each part of the project is detailed
below.
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Now it's time to find a career. Using this link to
the U.S. Government's Occupational Outlook
Handbook, find a career that you are
interested in and that will give you the needed income to afford the
lifestyle you want. Include the amount of education needed for your
career.
As soon as you have found a career, refer to the employment information located on www.bls.gov/oco. Print a copy and come
and talk to Mrs. Keiner and she will assist you your gross earnings for the
year. Then find out your net earnings, after taking out federal
income tax. Your social security tax will be 7.65% of
your gross income is you are employed by someone else, 15.30% if you are
self-employed.
Enter all this into your budget
spreadsheet. You will then have your net yearly income.
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After you have a career and an income,
you need to try and get a house to live in. Almost
everyone has an idea of where they would like to live, and what type of
house they would like to own. It's your job to use the links below to find
your dream house. After you do so, make sure to note where the house is
located, and what the selling price is. Also make sure to note the URL
that you used and save the picture to your disk.
When you find the house you want, come
talk to Mrs. Keiner and get her approval for a loan from the bank. Visit www.calculator.com . Use the Mortgage calculator for item 3. Use the How much House can I afford Calculator and the Mortgage Payment Calculator.
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Most people also have ideas on what type of car
they would like to own. Use the links below to find your dream car. Make
sure to note the price of the car. Also make sure to note the URL that you
used and save the picture to your disk. Visit www.calculator.com . Use the Loan calculator for your automobile.Remeber your payment requirements from your budget.
NOTE:
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The next step is to set up your budget. This will entail the
following steps:
- Figure out your monthly mortgage payment
and your monthly car payment. Assume that you only have a
5% down payment for your mortgage.
- Some budget experts recommend that a house
payment should be no more than 28% of your gross monthly income, and
that a car payment should be no more than 12% of your gross monthly
income. Decide if your net income will make it possible for you to
afford your house and car. If not, go and find a car and house
that you can afford.
- Examine your spreadsheet to see
how much money you should budget for the remainder of your household
expenses. Make sure to double check your calculations. Then enter
those household expenses into your spreadsheet.
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Time for a reality check. At this point, change
worksheets with your partner. Once you have your partner's worksheet, you
need to do two things:
- double check the calculations (), and
- check with adult (probably a parent or
guardian, or Mrs.Keiner)
to see how realistic the budget is.
Now, write a recommendation to your partner
explaining how realistic their budget is, and making suggestions on any
necessary changes.
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To complete the project, make any changes
to your budget THAT YOU CONSIDER NECESSARY (not necessarily the
changes your partner recommended). Write a summary of the changes you
made, and why you made them. Make sure you heed Mrs. Keiner's
comments!
The completed project should contain the
following:
- 2 copies of the spreadsheet printed
out: the initial
copy and the revised copy;
- the recommendations that you made to
your partner; and
- the summary of the changes you made.
The final step of this project, is to create
seven slides using PowerPoint to present your budget and lifestyle. Your
presentation should have the following:
- An opening slide which includes your name
and the basics of your career, education, and family (life);
- a slide that shows the yearly income you
earn and the various taxes you pay (income
and taxes).
- a slide that shows the chosen vehicle and
specific information about your automobile (color, year, maker, radio,
airbags, financing, insurance, etc.) (vehicle
info.);
- a slide that has the spreadsheet information
about your car, taken from the previous project (monthly
payment);
- a slide that shows all the details about house, where it is located, other miscellaneous
information, etc (house info.);
- a slide that shows your house/apartment and
where you obtained your mortgage, what interest you pay, number of months of
loan, etc. (house payment);
- Your monthly budget, including all expenses
balanced against your net pay (monthly
budget);
- A graph, created in Excel and
exported to PowerPoint, that helps explain outflows vs. inflows, with the
money left over (graph);
- and lastly, a slide that explains what you
learned in this project (learned).
Each slide need only be a brief synopsis of
what you have in your report. Keep it simple yet informative. Copy
and paste as many spreadsheets straight from Excel into PowerPoint as possible!
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If you would like to use resources other
than the ones given in this project, you may want to use the following
search engines:
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To ask questions about the project, or
to make comments about the project, please e-mail the author at:
dkeiner@blackwell.esc14.net
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Blackwell, TX 325.282.2163
dkeiner@blackwell.esc14.net |
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Budget sheet |
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