Senior Personal Budget Project
Essentially, each of you will be required to set up a monthly budget. You will be required to set up your budget on Excel, and then get your information off the internet, noting the sites that you used. You will construct a budget according to a job you are assigned by your teacher. No matter what your job might be, you must construct a working budget with costs less than expenses; no matter what job you have you must first deal with your housing. You will need to find a house or an apartment that you can afford. You can have roommates, if you need help in covering the monthly rent or mortgage. Next, you must find a car or other type of transportation, and then set up a budget.
SETTING UP YOUR BUDGET
The next step is to set up your budget. This will entail the following steps:
Figure out your monthly mortgage/rent payment and your monthly car payment. Assume that you only have a 5% down payment for your mortgage if purchasing a home. Some budget experts recommend that a house payment should be no more than 28% of your gross monthly income, and that a car payment should be no more than 12% of your gross monthly income. Decide if your net income will make it possible for you to afford your house and car. If not, go and find a car and house that you can afford.
Finding a Job:
Using this link to the U.S. Government's Occupational Outlook Handbook (http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocoiab.htm) find your career. Use the median annual earnings for your salary. (Remember to include a job description in your project). Then find out your net earnings, after taking out federal income tax (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040tt.pdf) and NJ state income tax. Your social security tax will be 7.65% of your gross income if you are employed by someone else, 15.30% if you are self-employed. If your job requires a college degree or an associates degree, you must include what college/university you attended in order to get the degree needed, the cost of schooling. For this project, we are assuming each student will have a monthly student loan cost of $150.00. Please do not forget to include this in your monthly budget.
Finding Housing:
After you have a career and an income, you need to try and get a house/apartment to live in. After you find a place to live, make sure to note where the house/apartment is located, and what the price is. Also make sure to note the URL that you used.
Finding an automobile:
Remember to cite your sources and provide proof for the price or lease of the car, the insurance on the car and the make, year and model of the car.
Guidelines for what to include in your budget: (see below)
Income: Salary Other Expenses: Rent or mortgage payments Car loan/lease Property taxes groceries Student loan work/school lunches Electricity, gas bill dining out/take out Telephone bill Savings account Internet Retirement savings Cable TV Clothing Home Insurance Footwear Auto Insurance Hair cuts Life Insurance Holidays/gifts Health Insurance Credit cards Child care Pets Fuel for car Public transportation Entertainment- movies, rentals, vacation Car maintenance (oil change, registration)
The final step of this project is to create a PowerPoint to present your budget and lifestyle. Your presentation should have the following:
An opening slide which includes your name and the basics of your career, education, and family; a slide that shows the yearly income you earn and the various taxes you pay (income and taxes). a slide that shows the chosen vehicle and specific information about your automobile (year, maker, financing, insurance, etc.);
a slide that has the spreadsheet information about your car, taken from the previous project (monthly payment); a slide that shows all the details about house, where it is located, other miscellaneous information, etc; a slide that shows your house/apartment and where you obtained your mortgage, what interest you pay, number of months of loan, etc.; Your monthly budget, including all expenses balanced against your net pay; A graph, created in Excel and exported to PowerPoint, that helps explain outflows vs. inflows, with the money left over; lastly, a slide that explains what you learned in this project.
(Each slide need only be a brief synopsis of what you have in your report. Keep it simple yet informative).
Deep thoughts… Are you on the path of being able to live in the city where you grew up? Will you have a "career" that provides intriguing, fulfilling work and opportunities for growth and advancement? Or will you just have a succession of jobs that lead nowhere? Will you be able to acquire the education and job skills to make your attractive to a potential employer? Will you be able to land a job that enables you to pay your bills? Or will you be unable to pay your bills? Will you thrive after high school? Or will you struggle just to survive?