Personal Budget Project

 

Students will prepare a personal budget that summarizes typical monthly expenses for a single person, living alone and newly entering the job market. The project will take place over several weeks and will involve work to be done both at school and at home.  The following is a brief summary of the steps involved in completing the project. More detailed instructions will be given in class. Attendance is important to the completion of this project.

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  1. Research your chosen career and complete a Career Summary. Questions 2-4 should be answered by researching your chosen career in the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Questions 5-7 should be answered by researching colleges or training programs. For specific directions on the Career Summary, click here.
  2. Look up starting salary. Use Memphis Area Wage Report. Click on six-digit code next to your career and print the first page to get salary range and starting salary (25% percentile). Use the information to fill in questions 9-10 of the Career Summary.
  3. Complete a 1040EZ tax form to compute annual federal income tax.
  4. Complete a Tax Worksheet that summarizes income, Social Security and Medicare taxes. The worksheet also calculates gross monthly income and total monthly taxes.
  5. Select an apartment that fits within your monthly budget. Be sure to check on utilities.
  6. Get a quote online for renter’s insurance to cover the value of personal assets. Use Allstate.com. Click here for instructions on insurance quotes.
  7. Select an automobile and calculate a monthly payment to finance it for 1 to 5 years. Use cars.com.
  8. Get an estimate of monthly payment on student loans. Use FinAid Calculator.
  9. Get a quote online for automobile insurance on the car selected in #6. Use Allstate.com.
  10. Estimate monthly car maintenance. Include gasoline, oil changes, etc.
  11. Get an estimate of monthly utilities not included in rent (water, gas, electricity). Use MLGW Energy E-Valuator.
  12. Estimate monthly health insurance. (Use estimate provided by Ms. Plunkett)
  13. Select a phone plan (either cellular or through Bell South).
  14. Estimate monthly food expenses. Include restaurant expenses.
  15. Estimate annual clothing expenses and divide by 12 to get monthly figure.
  16. Select cable TV plan.
  17. Estimate recreation expense.
  18. Estimate miscellaneous/personal expense.
  19. Estimate monthly savings. Subtract total monthly expenses from total monthly income.
  20. Complete Personal Budget Worksheet. Make sure that Total Monthly Expenses are less than Net Monthly Income and that there is at least a 10% savings rate. Adjust estimates if necessary to obtain a “balanced” budget.
  21. Draw “unexpected event” from envelope. Adjust budget to accommodate change in circumstances.
  22. Complete Budget Think Sheet. Complete Compounding Interest Worksheet.

 

Assembly of Project: Place rubric on top of project. The Career Summary with documentation is next, followed by the Tax Worksheet/1040EZ. The Personal Budget Worksheet and the Budget Think Sheet is next. The Compounding Interest Worksheet is next. The remaining pages of the project are documentation that explain where the numbers came from for the budget. These pages should follow the order of the Personal Budget Worksheet. Place in the upper right corner of each page of documentation the letter that corresponds to the Personal Budget line item. For example, the advertisement that lists the apartment rent (and whether utilities are included) should have the letter “A” in the upper right hand corner of the page. Make sure to highlight the appropriate information on the advertisement (rent, statement about utilities, etc.).  Documentation must be provided for each line item included in the budget. Hand-written documentation is accepted for some items like food and car maintenance estimates, but is generally discouraged.  A better grade is earned for documentation that reflects the student’s effort to research and obtain objective estimates of expenses. The total project is worth 100 points. Due to the time constraints at the end of the semester, LATE PROJECTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. PROJECTS MUST BE TURNED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CLASS ON THE DATE DUE.


Name: ____________________________________ Period: ___________________ Date Due: ________________

 

Rubric for Personal Budget

1.       Correct completion of Career Summary with appropriate documentation..

                                                                 2          4          6          8          10         _____________

2.       Correct completion of Tax Worksheet/1040EZ.

                                                                 2          4          6          8          10         _____________

3.       Correct completion of Original Monthly Budget.

2          4          6          8          10        12        14        16        18        20 _____________

4.       Complete documentation for each line item on the original budget.

2          4          6          8          10        12        14        16        18        20 _____________

5.       Correct completion of After Event Monthly Budget.

                                                                 2          4          6          8          10         _____________

6.       Correct completion of Budget Think Sheet.

                                                                 2          4          6          8          10         _____________

7.       Completion of  Original and After Event budgets with at least 10% savings of net monthly income.

                                                                 2          4          6          8          10         _____________

8.       Completion Compounding Interest Worksheet based on After Event Net Monthly Savings.

                                                                 2          4          6          8          10         _____________

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