Question

Unit: Personal Financial Management

This activity will help you meet these educational goals:
• Content Knowledge—You will learn how to prepare a budget for different phases of life based on your financial goals.
• Inquiry—You will conduct online research, in which you will collect information and communicate your results in written form.
• 21st Century Skills—You will use critical thinking and problem-solving skills and communicate effectively.

Introduction

In this unit activity, you will go through the process of developing your financial goals. Based on this, you will develop budgets for different phases of life.
__________________________________________________________________________

Directions and Analysis
Task 1: Budget and Net Worth
Keep track of your income and expenses for one month. List all your assets and liabilities (debts owed) in a spreadsheet. Based on these documents, develop a monthly budget and a net worth statement.

Type your response here:

Task 2: Financial Goals

Determine and list your financial goals.

Type your response here:

Task 3: Budget for 25- to 30-year-old Business Professionals

Talk to your mentor, family members, or relatives between the ages of 25-30 and who are employed to see what their budgets look like. Develop a sample budget for someone aged 25 to 30 years old.
Type your response here:

Task 4: Budget for 55- to 65-year-old Business Professionals

Talk to mentors, family members, or relatives between the ages of 55-65 and who are nearing retirement. Develop a sample budget for someone aged 55-65, considering the adjusted income and expenses in this life phase.

Type your response here:

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Evaluation
Your teacher will use this rubric to evaluate the completeness of your work as well as the clarity of thinking that you exhibit.

Total Points: 100

Task 1: Budget and Net Worth Task points: [45]

• listing of expenses and income

• creating a budget

• creating a net worth statement
[15]

[15]

[15]

Task 2: Financial Goals Task points: [15]
• listing financial goals [15]
Task 3: Budget for 25- to 30-year-old Business Professionals Task points: [20]
• creating a budget [20]

Task 4: Budget for 55- to 65-year-old Business Professionals Task points: [20]
• creating a budget [20]

Answer 1

Ok, neat, so the project is already split up into four parts for us.
The first part seems pretty straightforward. We just have to brainstorm some likely sources of wealth and costs of living. In terms of wealth, I think the main factor would be income. I think the national average in the US is somewhere around $30,000/year, but you can probably budget for a little higher than that, considering you're pursuing your education and whatnot. When we talk about "assets" I guess that would include any stable forms of material wealth, like a house, a car, jewelry, or other things that are worth money, just not in the form of money.
So, that's the positive side, and to find the net worth, we'd also need to balance it out with negatives, costs. So, regular payments you can expect to make, like utilities, loans, groceries, or any other costs you can foresee for yourself. It may be difficult to estimate these costs precisely, but you can look up some data online and use your daily experience to get a pretty good idea.

Answer 2

I'm afraid I won't be able to help with parts 3 and 4, since I'm not in the 25-30 age range or the 55-60 age range, and I wouldn't consider myself a "mentor" anyway. Sorry about that.

Answer 3

But part 2 sounds like you have a lot of freedom to write about whatever you'd like. Now, I don't really know you as a person, so I can't speak to your personal goals. But, myself, a few goals that come to mind might be to pay my parents back for the college tuition they gave me; earn enough money to own a house and support a family; have enough extra money to travel once in a while; maybe enough income to support a few pets, too...
Pretty basic stuff, I guess. Like I said, it really depends on what you want out of life, so really there's no wrong answer.