Reference no: EM133559781

Directions:

Use Excel to create three zero-based budgets; two for the two student case studies below and one based on your own situation. Fill in all income and expenses on the form with the information provided. Save each budget on a separate sheet within one Excel file. Round to the nearest dollar to keep things simple.

Compute the net pay of income by taking 20% out for taxes.
If there is money left over after you account for the expenses, decide where that money should go. The budget is balanced when every dollar is assigned to a category (when income minus expenses equals zero).
If there is not enough money for expenses, redistribute the amounts in the categories until the balance is zero.
Use the Monthly Cash Flow Plan and Recommended percentages as a guide for formatting and balancing expenses (Included as a separate attached file to assignment).
Student Budget #1:

Marcus works at the lumber yard and makes $11.50 an hour. With his academic and sports schedule, he can work 20 hours a week. Marcus lives at home, so he has very few bills, one of which is a cell phone that costs $85 a month. He is responsible for car insurance, which is $1,100 a year, and he must pay for gas, maintenance and repairs ($150 a month). His parents also provide him with meals at home, but he likes to eat out with his friends at least two times a week ($8 each meal). He has health insurance under his parent's plan. Later this year, he wants to buy a 50-inch flat screen television for $2,000, so he has been saving $167 every month.

Student Budget #2:

Cassie works at the grocery store and earns $12 an hour. She is busy with extracurricular activities and works 20 hours during the week. However, she picks up an eight-hour Sunday shift four times a month, for which she earns time and a half. Cassie lives with one roommate, and they split rent, which is $900. They also divide their utilities in half, and Cassie pays $150. Fortunately, she has health insurance under her mom's plan. However, she is expected to pay $130 for her own car repairs, maintenance, and gas, as well as auto insurance, which is $840 a year. She also spends $40 a week for groceries and $15 for eating out each week. Cassie also puts 10% of her take home pay in her savings account and gives 10% of her take home pay to the local food pantry.