Module 5: Managing
your money – budgeting
Module objectives
• Provide an opportunity to look at the learner
outcomes in the ‘Manage money’ element of the
numeracy component of the National Literacy and
Numeracy Framework (LNF), to identify where
budgeting exists in the curriculum in Wales.
• Highlight resources and activities that can be used
in Key Stages 2, 3 and 4 to develop learners’
numeracy skills in the context of managing their
money by budgeting.
Learner aims
This module introduces the process of budgeting.
It works across key stages and some learners will:
• appreciate the decisions that need to be made
relating to ‘essential and non-essential
purchases’
• identify the differences between a need
(something you cannot live without) and a want
(something you can live without)
• identify how money enters and leaves their lives
• understand the differences between income and
expenditure
• be able to explain why a budget needs to balance.
The National Literacy and
Numeracy Framework (LNF)
The National Literacy and Numeracy Framework
(LNF) focuses on four strands of numeracy:
•
•
•
•
Strand 1: Developing numerical reasoning
Strand 2: Using number skills
Strand 3: Using measuring skills
Strand 4: Using data skills.
Numeracy component
of the LNF
Strand: Using number skills
Elements:
• Use number facts and relationships
• Fractions, decimals, percentages and ratio
• Calculate using mental and written methods
• Estimate and check
• Manage money
LNF learner outcomes
The following tables show the learner outcomes
as specified in the numeracy component of
the LNF.
The focus in this module is the topic of budgeting
which is highlighted in bold in the tables.
Manage
money
Learners are able to:
Year 3
• use different combinations of money to pay for items up to £2 and
calculate the change
• order and compare items up to £10
• record money spent and saved.
Year 4
• use money to pay for items up to £10 and calculate the change
• order and compare items up to £100
• add and subtract totals less than £10 using correct notation,
e.g. £6.85 – £2.76
• manage money, compare costs from different retailers and
determine what can be bought within a given budget.
Year 5
• order and compare the cost of items up to £1 000
• add and subtract totals less than £100 using correct notation,
e.g. £28.18 + £33.45
• plan and track money and savings by keeping accurate records
• realise that budgeting is important.
Year 6
• use the terms profit and loss in buying and selling activities and
make calculations for this
• understand the advantages and disadvantages of using bank
accounts
• make comparisons between prices and understand which is best
value for money.
Manage money
Learners are able to:
Year 7
• use profit and loss in buying and selling calculations
• understand the advantages and disadvantages of using
bank accounts, including bank cards
• make informed decisions relating to discounts and special
offers.
Year 8
• carry out calculations relating to VAT, saving and
borrowing
• appreciate the basic principles of budgeting,
saving (including understanding compound interest) and
borrowing.
Year 9
• calculate using foreign money and exchange rates
• understand the risks involved in different ways of saving
and investing
• describe why insurance is important and understand the
impact of not being insured.
Extension
• use and understand efficient methods of calculating
compound interest
• understand and demonstrate the real-life process of
foreign exchange
• understand and calculate income tax.
The Personal and social education framework
for 7 to 19-year-olds in Wales also highlights
opportunities for learners to develop their
budgeting knowledge.
These are
highlighted in bold
on the next slide.
Personal and social education framework for 7 to 19-year-olds in Wales
Key Stage 2 learning outcomes
Range: Preparing for lifelong learning
Learners should be given opportunities to understand:
 that money is earned through work and can buy goods and services
 the importance of looking after their money and the benefits of regular saving.
Personal and social education framework for 7 to 19-year-olds in Wales
Key Stage 3 learning outcomes
Range: Preparing for lifelong learning
Learners should be given opportunities to understand:
 the economic and ethical consequences of personal financial decision-making
as a consumer, e.g. Fairtrade
 how to become competent at managing personal finances and recognise that
saving provides financial independence.
Personal and social education framework for 7 to 19-year-olds in Wales
Key Stage 4 learning outcomes
Range: Preparing for lifelong learning
Learners should be given opportunities to understand:
 their rights as consumers and their responsibilities in terms of managing a
budget
 the importance of planning for their financial futures and how to access financial
advice.
Can we afford it?
Starter activity:
How do we know if we can
afford something?
What do these terms mean?
needs
wants
See Manage money activity sheet: Needs and wants
(Key Stage 2/3 activity).
Using images and words, learners can decide which items
they cannot live without (need) and those items that they
simply want to have.
Need versus want
Carry out the activity online by visiting
https://hwb.wales.gov.uk/cms/hwbcontent/Shared%20Documents/vtc/200910/maths/financial-literacy/needsVsWants.swf
Essential and
non-essential items
Scenario:
You have started working, have
your own flat and recently had a
loan to purchase a new car.
Print off Resource 1: Essential and non-essential items,
which is a Key Stage 3/4 activity. This activity asks
learners to sort the cards into two groups – ‘essential’
and ‘non-essential’ monthly payments/purchases.
Examples are shown on the next slide.
Essential and
non-essential items
Music
downloads
Bus fares
Car loan
repayment
Food/
toiletries
Meal out
with friends
TV licence
Electricity
Concert
ticket
Work
clothes
Mobile
phone bill
Takeaway
pizza
Petrol
House
insurance
New
trainers
Car
insurance
Water
Mortgage/
rent
Gas
Council tax
£10
savings
Discussion activity:
How does money come in and
out of your life on a daily, weekly
or monthly basis?
Education
Maintenance
Allowance
(EMA)
Snacks
Payment
for chores
Mobile
phone
Gifts
Pocket
money
Cinema/
concerts
Part-time
work
Buying
music
Buying
clothes
Bus fares
Toiletries
Income and expenditure
Key Stage 2 activities:
Activity 1: Can we afford it? (see Manage money activity sheet:
Can we afford it?)
Activity 2: Money wise: a monthly budgeting card game (see
Manage money activity sheet: Money wise monthly budgeting card
game)
Activity 3: Budgeting how much electricity to use – ‘Let’s cut back’.
Visit the activity online at
https://hwb.wales.gov.uk/cms/hwbcontent/_layouts/NGFLSolution/
MaterialDescription.aspx?LearningMaterialId=39431&lang=en
Activities have been differentiated into key stages based on
context. The key stages are for guidance only and teachers should
select activities to match the ability of learners. Links/explanations
for activities on the following slides.
Income and expenditure
Activity 1: Can we afford it?
See Manage money activity sheet: Can we afford it?
Learners are given a storyboard to complete. The
storyboard charts a family’s decision about whether they
can afford to buy a bike as a birthday present. The
storyboard raises discussion points.
Income and expenditure
Activity 2: Money wise – monthly budgeting card game
See Manage money activity sheet: Money wise – monthly
budgeting card game.
Learners cut out the cards that show ways they have earned and
spent money, and turn them face down. They play in pairs, turn
one card over at a time, and decide where to place it in their
monthly budget table. Their challenge is to ensure they:
• do not get into debt in any one month
• break even at the end of the three months.
This means that they may have to move their cards around, or
decide on something they can’t afford to buy to ensure their
spending does not exceed their earnings!
Activity 3: Budgeting how much
electricity to use
Key Stage 2 activity: Budgeting how much electricity to use
View this online activity on Hwb at
https://hwb.wales.gov.uk/cms/hwbcontent/Shared%20Documents/vtc/2009
-10/maths/financial-literacy//lets-cut-back/index.html
Income and expenditure
Key Stage 3/4 activities:
Activity 1: Can you help Carrie and Mo to budget? (see
Spending Sense)
Activity 2: ‘Managing your money’ scenarios (see Welsh
Government Personal Finance Toolkit)
Activity 3: Keeping a running balance for a household (see
Resource 2 from this module)
Activities have been differentiated into key stages based on
context. The key stages are for guidance only and teachers
should select activities to match the ability of learners.
Links/explanations for activities are included on the
following slides.
Activity 1
Can you help Carrie and Mo manage their budget?
Resource:
Spending Sense, Activity 5 – Carrie and Mo
(pages 39–47)
Download the resource at
https://hwb.wales.gov.uk/cms/hwbcontent/_layouts/NGFLSolution/
MaterialDescription.aspx?LearningMaterialId=44957&lang=en
Income and expenditure
Key Stage 3/4 Activity 1: Can you help Carrie and Mo
to budget?
This activity raises the problem of overspending on a tight
budget. The lifestyles of two young people, Carrie and Mo,
are described. Each has a budget showing a typical
monthly income and expenditure. The task for learners is
to discuss their lifestyles and spending habits to see where
they could cut down in order to balance their budget.
The following slides show snapshots of this activity.
Activity 2
Managing your money scenarios
Resource:
Welsh Government Personal Finance Toolkit
See Topic 3 ‘Managing your money’ (pages 29–33) along with the
accompanying resource sheets within Topic 3 entitled ‘Manage my
cash’ (pages 31–34).
Download the resource at
http://wales.gov.uk/topics/childrenyoungpeople/publications/resource
s/?skip=1&lang=en
The activity (described on page 32) offers four scenarios describing
young people’s financial situations. Learners suggest ways in which
they could manage their money more successfully. Examples of the
scenarios are given on the next slides
Activity 3
Keeping a running balance for a household
Resource: Keeping a running balance
(see Resource 2 within this module)
This activity presents learners with a diary style account of
the transactions that take place during one month, from the
view point of a working adult with three children. Learners
have to read the information and keep a running a balance
in the form of a table by calculating the money paid in and
paid out of a bank account.
Keeping a running balance
Mrs Jones is a very busy parent and the information given is one
month in her life (print off Resource 2 ‘Keeping a running balance’).
The information indicates how much is paid in (income) and paid out
(expenditure) of her bank account.
Look carefully at each of the days given and consider the transactions
that take place.
Using the table, carry out a running balance to help her keep track of
her money.
Date
Paid in
Paid out
Examples of the first week are given on the next slide.
Balance
1 August
You have both been paid.
£3012
3 August
Council tax needs to be paid.
£142
Paid by direct debit.
Food shopping.
£112
Paid with debit card.
4 August
Mortgage payments goes out.
£1215
5 August
Utility bill day!
Gas: £72
Electricity: £59
Water: £45.10
All paid monthly by direct debit.
7 August
Child benefit.
You have three children.
£20.30 for the first child per week.
£13.40 for the other children.
Note: child benefit is paid every 4
weeks.
Adding up to a lifetime
This is a free online resource which follows four characters
and how they deal with financial situations. It is suitable for
Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 5. The package has approximately
25 hours of learning activities which learners can complete
online. It is presented as five modules:
• Life as a student (aged 14 upwards)
Each module has
• Working life
an audio tutorial
which can be
• Relationships
listened to in
English or Welsh.
• New life
• Active retirement.
The modules offer the whole range of manage money topics
including budgeting, visit
www.addinguptoalifetime.org.uk
Websites and resources
• www.pfeg.org
pfeg (Personal Finance Education Group) an independent charity providing a wealth
of resources to support financial education in schools.
• www.barclaysmoneyskills.com/en/Information/resource-centre.aspx
Barclays Money Skills Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 Resource Packs (download) –
needs/wants and essential/non-essential activities available within these packs.
• www.nationwideeducation.co.uk
Finance Skills: games, factsheets* and worksheets* for learners aged 4 to 18+
(printable resources and online games). For budgeting activities see Money Maths –
Balancing Budgets (12–14) and Family Budget Factsheet (7–11).
*Welsh versions available.
• www.Addinguptoalifetime.org.uk
The modules offer the whole range of manage money topics including budgeting.
• www.hwb.wales.gov.uk/cms/hwbcontent/shared%20Documents/vtc/200910/maths/financial-literacy//lets-cut-back/index.html
Key Stage 2 Science Activity: Looking at budgeting via household electricity usage.
• www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/categories/young-people-and-money
Information on managing your money as a student.
• http://rbsmoneysense.co.uk/schools/resources/
A free interactive online programme providing resources to support learners manage
their money.