Reference no: EM133375145
For the first part of this activity, you will be given a hypothetical monthly income, a list of your basic monthly bills, and a brief description of your living situation and daily life.
Based on that information, you will create a monthly budget and financial plan that allows you to pay all of the necessary bills while also having enough money left over to live for the month.
You will also need to take into consideration the details that are given about your life. You will need to weigh your options with these details and decide what is absolutely necessary to fit into your budget and what you can afford to live without.
You may use a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel to organize your monthly financial plan; however, this is not a requirement if you are not comfortable using this type of program. You can also create a table or chart in a word processing program like Microsoft Word, or you can come up with another way to creatively and effectively organize and display your monthly plan.
If you are completely stumped as to how to design and organize your monthly financial plan, do a bit of research! Try Googling 'monthly financial plan' or 'monthly budget template' to get some ideas.
Part 2 Overview:
After completing your monthly financial plan, you will write a brief reflection (one to three paragraphs) on this financial activity.
The following questions should be addressed in your reflection:
- How easy or difficult was this activity?
- What were some challenges that you encountered?
- Were you able to pay for all of your bills and all of the additional expenses with your income?
- If not, what did you eliminate or where did you cut back?
- How did you decide what to eliminate or where to cut back?
- How might this hypothetical financial plan differ from a future real-life financial plan?
- Do you feel more or less comfortable with money management after completing this activity?
Your grade will be based on your ability to appropriately create a comprehensive and well-thought out monthly budget and your ability to write a thoughtful reflection that addresses the required questions. For more details on grading, please refer to the rubric below.
Please submit your monthly financial plan and your typed reflection to the dropbox when completed.
Part 1 Information:
You currently work as an elementary school teacher.
- Your annual salary is $45,000
- You bring home a weekly paycheck and your total monthly income, after taxes, is $2,850.00
You live alone in an apartment with the following bills:
- Monthly rent: $1,000
- Electric Bill: $82
- Gas and Water: $44
- Internet: $75
Other monthly bills include:
- Cell Phone: $85
- Student Loan: $200
- Car Insurance: $130
- Gym Membership: $20
Other details and expenses:
- You live a pretty simple life. You are single and enjoy going out to dinner with friends once or twice a month.
- You enjoy eating healthily and generally spend a good portion of your income on purchasing organic food. You like to grocery shop weekly and, on average, spend $100 per week.
- You have a dog and he is due for a monthly check-up this month. You estimate this will cost around $150, but you have not scheduled the appointment yet.
- You are relatively healthy and rarely visit the doctor, but you do have asthma that requires monthly inhalers. These are not covered by insurance and cost you $110 per month.
- You love treating yourself to a movie. A movie ticket costs $10.
- There is a concert that your friends have asked you to attend this month. Tickets are $250.
- You opened a savings account several months ago and set a goal to deposit $200 into it each month.
- Your Mom's birthday is this month and you want to send her flowers. It will cost $75 to send her a beautiful bouquet.
- The service light recently came on in your car. You have been avoiding taking it to the shop because you anticipate that it will cost anywhere from $150-$300. But if your car breaks down, you will not be able to get to work.