Financial Literacy – Student Guide Assignment Summary Today’s guest speaker is a financial planner. He is here to clarify the purpose of creating a family budget, and to reinforce the importance of saving for your future. In this task, you will create a budget that includes calculating your income as well as managing your overall expenses. Assignment Instructions Complete each task, reading the directions carefully as you go. Be sure to show all work where indicated, including inserting images of graphs. Be sure that all graphs or screenshots include appropriate information such as titles, labeled axes, etc. If your word processing program has an equation editor, you can insert your equations. Otherwise, print this activity sheet and write your answers by hand. Type all of your work into this document so you can submit it to your teacher for a grade. Show all your work and answer each question as you complete the task, as this is what your grade is based on. Partial credit will be given according to the completeness and accuracy of your explanations. Your teacher will give you further directions as to how you are to submit your work. You may be asked to upload the document, e-mail it to your teacher, or hand in a hard copy. Now, let’s get started! Step 1: Analyzing Components of a Budget Copyright © Edgenuity Inc. Before a detailed family budget can be created, your financial planner has advised you to examine the important aspects that affect a budget such as income, taxes, savings, and expenses. Work through the following questions to start thinking about these aspects of budgeting. a) As a student, you are able to earn extra money by assisting your neighbors with odd jobs. If you charged $10.25 an hour for your assistance, about how many hours would you need to work to earn $8,425? Show your work. (5 points) 8425/10.25=821.9 821.95 hours b) Imagine that you earned $8,425 in one year. If the government enforces a 15% income tax, how much money would you owe in taxes at the end of the year? Show your work. (5 points) 8425 ∗ 15% = 1263.75 you would owe $1263.75 at the end of the year c) Your parents have been advised to save 5% of their income for your college education, which would include money for housing, tuition, books, and fees. How much would your parents have saved in one year, following the recommended 5%, if they had an average household income of $48,948? Show your work. (5 points) $2447.40 d) As a smart consumer, you are always on the lookout for sales, coupons, and rebates. While shopping for new clothes, you notice that one particular brand of shirts is on sale for 20% off the original price. You also have a coupon for $10 off a $40 purchase. Coupons are applied after the 20% discount is taken. If each shirt originally costs $17.99, how many shirts would you need to buy to be able to use your coupon? Show your work. (15 points) 3 shirts e) What would be the total cost of purchasing the number of shirts needed to use your coupon—after your coupon is applied and a 7.5% sales tax is charged on the purchase? (15 points) $35.66 Step 2: Calculating Monthly Expenses The second step to building a family budget is to outline your expenses in greater detail, itemizing fixed and variable expenses. Suppose the table below shows your family’s monthly expenses by category. Copyright © Edgenuity Inc. Fixed or Variable Average Yearly Percent of Yearly Expense? Monthly Cost Cost Budget (Rounded) Income Tax Fixed $400 $4,800 Housing fixed $950 $11,400 $4,800 = 9.8% $48,900 23.3% Food variable $650 $7,800 16% Clothing Variable $75 $900 1.8% Fixed $500 $6,000 12.3% fixed $1,200 $14,400 29.4% variable $100 $1,200 2.5% $50 $600 1.2% $50 $600 1.2% $100 $1,200 2.5% $4,075 $48,900 100% Expense Transportation Insurance & Medical Entertainment Emergency Fund Fixed Savings for Fixed College Savings for Retirement Fixed Total a) Fixed expenses are expenses that do not change from month to month, and variable expenses are expenses that can fluctuate from month to month. Complete the second column of the chart by determining if each expense is fixed or variable. (10 points – 2 points each) b) Choose an example of a fixed expense and an example of a variable expense, and explain why they are classified that way. (4 points) Fixed expenses generally cost the same amount each month (such as rent, mortgage payments, or car payments), while variable expenses change from month to month (dining out, medical expenses, groceries, or anything you buy from a store). c) Complete the remaining columns in the chart by calculating the missing values for each category. Round your percentages to the nearest tenth of a percent. (16 points) Step 3: Creating a Balanced Family Budget a) Search for a "family budget estimator" and calculate the monthly expenses for a family living in your city. Copyright © Edgenuity Inc. Insert a screenshot of the calculator you used, as well as all of the information you entered into it. If you are unable to insert a screenshot, then list the information below. (10 points) b) State the minimum monthly income and hourly wage per worker needed to cover monthly expenses for the family you used in part a. Then, explain how to calculate the hourly wage based on the monthly income and state the hourly wage. Assume that each full-time worker works four 40-hour work weeks per month, and each part-time worker works two 40-hour weeks per month. (10 points) $51,787 / 12 months = $4,315.58 monthly income / 160 hrs worked each month = $26.97 hourly wage with for one full time employee With a 2 person income ( one fulltime, one parttime) it would have to be $4315.58 / 240 hrs worked each month = $17.98 hourly wage for each employee c) Keeping all other criteria the same, add a child to the family you used in part a to determine the monthly expenses. How does an additional child impact the family budget and hourly wage? Which category was least affected by this change? Explain why you think there was little impact to this category. (5 points)The total end of month budget remains the same as well as the hourly wage. Savings was not affected by adding a child. If sticking to a strict budget, a family should always be putting a set amount aside for savings, without question. Copyright © Edgenuity Inc.
