Introduction
At this point in the term you will have knowledge and skills regarding budgeting which will be necessary to complete this WebQuest.
You will often hear adults speak of budgeting and spending money responsibly, now it's your turn to show us you can do it! In this WebQuest you are going to budget to rent a house and save for a car as an adult would.
2 lssons in week 3 will be devoted to you completing this assignment, however it is recommend starting it prior to class and using class time to ask questions or clear up any things you are unsure on. The assignment is due on Thursday 27 October.
Task
The task for this assignment is to create a budget suitable for an income you will be given. Your budget will be presented in a printed word document or can be handwritten. It must contain a final weekly budget in the same format that has been completed in class.
You will rent a house and save money for a car; both choices must be appropriate for your income. You will also budget for day-to-day expenses such as food, bills, internet, phones etc. and to save money.
In class you have been issued a yearly gross income. From this income you will need to calculate how much tax you will pay. You can use an online tax calculator to calculate this.
For the task you will only be budgeting for yourself, which means no wives, husbands, children, pets etc. Based on the house you rent you may wish to have hypothetical housemates. For example if your house has 4 bedrooms you may wish to have 3 roomates and all pay 1/4 of the rent together, or if you wish to live alone and you can afford it, that is also fine.
It is recommended that you justify your expenses with evidence coming from online tools that have been provided, or similar online programs. If you are unsure of some costs do some research!
Process
Your task is split in to several different stages.
1: You will be given an income in class that you will have to use to budget. The income you will be given is gross income, which means you will have to pay tax on it.
2: Calculate how much income tax you will have to pay, using an income tax calculator is allowed. To keep things simple assume that you are not declaring any taxible deductions or special considerations and ignore the medicare levy.
3: Find a house to rent and save for a car. It is wise to search for various cars and homes and see which one suits you best. You must budget correctly for a car you can buy without a loan within one year. In regards to providing evidence for the house and car, a screenshot or a printout will be sufficient.
4: Calculate how much you will be spending weekly on food, internet, electricity and other expenses you can think of. Figures can be approximated but must be reasonable. You should justify with evidence how you reached certain figures. For food it is recommended that you do some online shopping as an approximation.
5: Create a summary of your income and expenses, this is your final budget! Your final budget will be a weekly budget, make sure to calculate costs appropriately. You can choose how you want to display your budget.
Conclusion
You have now completed your budget, congratulations! By now you should be knowledgeable about budgeting and things you need to consider when making a budget. Keep in mind this is a simplified budget and in the real world you will have more expenses to consider! Most adults will have to budget at some point so I hope this was a beneficial insight to what may be ahead, if you enjoy it enough you may even decide to be a financial planner and budget for other people!