Introduction
You spend many hours planning for the future and dreaming of what your life will be like: education, career, family, home, and car. You dream of a certain lifestyle, one thing you probably will not plan for is how much that lifestyle will cost.
It is time for you to budget for the future.
A budget is all about making your own choices. This webquest will help you develop an awareness of the process of preparing a budget, develop an awareness of how much things really cost, and demonstrate how using a budget will help you achieve your personal and financial goals.
Task
In this Web Quest you will look at yourself in the future. You will imagine yourself as a recent college graduate. You just got hired for your first significant job of your career. Based on your salary, needs, wants and loan payments, you will complete a budget analysis, and a budget worksheet that will demonstrate how you will meet all of your expenses.
Process
Part I: Estimate Your Income
Knowing how much you earn ech month is an essential part of creating a realistic budget. How much you earn depends on your odccupation. Your will be completeing the WebQuest for your first significant job. Assume you have just graduated from college.
1. Open the Budget Webquest Spreadsheets worksheet. Save it as Final Budget.
2. Enter your personal information on the Calculating Paycheck worksheet in the Budget Web Quest Spreadsheet including your full name, intended occupation, pay period (which will be monthly), marital status (which will be single).
3. Use the Salary Wizard to find the amount of annual income for your intended occupation you can expect to earn in that occupation right out of college. Use Browse US Salaries option to find the salary of your occupation.