Math 9 Financial Literacy Name: Block: My Budget as a 24 Year Old This is a financial literacy project that will go towards your overall grade. Please do a thorough, thoughtful job on it and work in pencil as you will be making numerous changes. Ask questions and/or use Google to help you find the required information. Your teacher will provide you with an Excel spreadsheet to work out your monthly budget. Answer the questions below. 1) Fast forward to when you are 24 years old. What job do you hope to have or picture yourself having? 2) Briefly, what post secondary education does this require? (Google it!) 3) What would the typical starting monthly wage be? Google search starting wage for (insert job title) in Canada or BC. If hourly wage is given, multiply by 40 then multiply by 50 then divide by 12 to estimate monthly wage. If yearly wage is given, divide by 12. This is called the gross monthly wage, since it is before deductions. 4) Now let s estimate how much you will make once we remove deductions such as taxes, pension plan, unemployment insurance, etc. This is called the net monthly wage. Find 80% of your gross monthly pay. In the tax bracket you would be in, it is reasonable that 20% of your income would go to taxes and other deductions. Show your work. Enter this number into the blue box in your spreadsheet.
5) Estimate how much you would spend on expenses per month. A typical cost for each has been provided in the spreadsheet to help you with this. Go online and find the monthly rent for a 1 bedroom apartment (living alone) or 2 bedroom apartment (sharing with a roommate) in a city you would like to live in Find the monthly cost to finance a new car (visit car company s Canadian website; finance over 48 months) or a used car (find one online in Canadian dollars and go to https://goo.gl/t3wefa to calculate monthly loan payment at 3% interest over 48 months). If you plan to use transit, skip this step. Estimate the other expenses. Some may not apply to you, but most will. The spreadsheet will automatically add up the expenses to give you the total (red box) and also calculate income minus expenses to show you the end result with this budget (green box). Fixed expenses are expenses that remain the same from month to month (ex. rent, car payment, etc.). Variable expenses are those that can be changed from month to month (ex. movies, clothing, etc.). o If you have a deficit, change some of your variable expenses in the spreadsheet to balance your monthly budget. List the expenses that you changed below. o If you have a surplus, explain what you could do with your extra money each month. Once you no longer have a deficit and your budget seems reasonable, copy the numbers in your spreadsheet into the table on the next 2 pages.
INCOME Net monthly pay (after deductions) EXPENSES Housing/Utilities 1 bedroom apartment in (city) 2 bedroom apartment (roommate) in (city) Your estimated cost per month Apartment contents insurance Electricity Transportation New car (financed over 48 mo.) Make/Model: Used car (loan for 48 mo. at 3% int.) Year: Make/Model: Public transit monthly pass Auto insurance (if own car) Gasoline (if own car) Car maintenance Student loan university Student loan college Student loan technical Medical premiums Education Health Medications and dental Glasses/lenses Gym membership Basic groceries Food Eating at restaurants occasionally Coffee/tea/beverages
Personal/Household Personal care items (shampoo, soap, etc.) Haircuts Manicures/nails Makeup Household items (toilet paper, laundry detergent, cleaners, etc.) Laundry at laundromat Clothing Cellphone Entertainment/Communications Internet Netflix or other streaming video Basic cable Computer hardware Computer software Movie theatre Concerts/sports events Hobbies (sports, music, etc.) Other Savings (must save at least 10% of net monthly income) Banking fees Gifts Charity Travel low cost vacation by car Travel vacation with plane fare Pets TOTAL EXPENSES: INCOME MINUS EXPENSES:
6) Does your budget seem reasonable and realistic? Did we include all possible expenses? What other things cost money that we didn't consider? Explain. 7) Why is creating a budget so important? Explain in as much detail as possible.