A Salary-Based Budget
In this activity you will:
choose a potential career path
determine your take-home pay
set aside money to pay yourself first
try your hand at an independent adult’s budget
and then reflect on the process of budgeting.
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STEP 1:
Open the Salary-Based Budgeting worksheet, then click
File → Make a copy
Name your worksheet “LAST NAME, FIRST INITIAL budget”
Close the original Salary-Based Budgeting worksheet
�Use your copy of the worksheet to record all the work for this project.
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STEP 2:
Visit PayScale’s Salary Data & Career Research Center.
To locate your future career salary:
Remember, these are averages, so you could start lower or higher in reality.
Once you find your career, record the salary as your Annual Gross Wage on step 2 of your budget worksheet.
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STEP 3:
Calculate your monthly Gross Wage.
Gross Wage (monthly) = Annual Gross Wage / 12
Record on your budget spreadsheet.
*While “wage” and “salary” are different (in how your are paid), for this activity both refer to the money earned from working
**From this point on, you’ll use MONTHLY amounts for all budget entries.
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STEP 4:
Use the ADP Salary Paycheck Calculator to find your Net Pay (the wage you actually take home each month, after deductions). To do the activity correctly, choose the state you’ll be living in and then use these values:
Gross Pay = Your Gross Wage (monthly) → PER PAY PERIOD
Pay Frequency = Monthly
Federal Filing Status = single (unless you’re married)
# of federal allowances = 1 (unless you have dependent children)
Leave all other values as they are.
Record “Net Pay” on budget spreadsheet under “Net Wage (monthly)”
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STEP 5:
“Pay yourself first” by putting aside a percent of your net salary into a savings account. Choose one of the percents below, and calculate how much you’ll be saving off your net salary.
5% → this is low, but better than nothing
10% → this is a good goal for your first career; increase later
15% → terrific savings goal!
Savings = Net Wage (monthly) * % savings (remember 5% = .05)
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STEP 6:
It’s never too young to start saving for retirement. You want to set aside another portion of your net salary to put toward retirement.
5% → this is low, but better than nothing
10% → this is a good goal for your first career; increase later
15% → terrific retirement goal!
Retirement = Net Salary (monthly) * % retirement (5% = .05)
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STEP 7:
Calculate the total amount you’re saving each month.
Total Monthly Savings = Monthly Savings Account + Monthly Retirement
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STEP 8:
Calculate the monthly amount you have to budget.
**Savings is NOT an expense; it’s the money you’re setting aside for your own future. However, it’s also money that you shouldn’t spend on other things each month, so it gets taken out BEFORE you do your monthly budget.
Monthly Amount to Budget = Net Salary (monthly) - Total Savings
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STEP 9: RENT
To determine how much you will spend on rent, choose the type of living situation you see yourself in.
Option A: Live at home
Option B: Live in an apartment/house by yourself
Option C: Live in an apartment/house with roommates
Go to the slide for your choice to determine your rent cost.
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STEP 9A: RENT (Live at home)
Option 1: If you’re planning to live at home or with other relatives, estimate how much they’re going to charge you per month. Better yet, ASK! Do not assume they’ll let you live rent free! Record the answer in Monthly Rent.
If you’re planning to live on your own or with roommates, continue on.
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STEP 9B: RENT (Live in an apartment/house by yourself )
If you want to live completely on your own, use the Rent Comparison Tool on RentJungle to calculate your Monthly Rent:
a) In APARTMENT ADDRESS, input the city you would like to live in after college. �b) Under BEDROOMS, select STUDIO OR ONE BEDROOM
c) Under CURRENT OR LIKELY RENT, indicate how much you would like to pay per month. Look at your Monthly Amount to Budget and be sure not to spend more than 25% on Housing. �d) Under QUALITY OF BUILDING, use the number of stars as a proxy for the quality of the building (5 stars is the highest rating).
e) Select "FIND OUT INSTANTLY"�e) On next page, under HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU PAY, you will be given a range of rental rates (e.g., “monthly rents for 1 bedroom apartments range from $780 to $1,040 per month). Take the average of these two figures as your MONTHLY RENT.
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STEP 9C: RENT (Live in an apartment/house with roommates)
Option 3: If you are willing to live with roommates ($ saving!), use the Rent Comparison Tool on RentJungle to calculate your Monthly Rent:
a) In APARTMENT ADDRESS, input the city you would like to live in after college. �b) Select # of BEDROOMS based on total number of people living there (you + roommates)
c) Under CURRENT OR LIKELY RENT, indicate how much you would like to pay per month. Look at your Monthly Amount to Budget and be sure not to spend more than 25% on Housing. �d) Under QUALITY OF BUILDING, use the number of stars as a proxy for the quality of the building (5 stars is the highest rating).
e) Select "FIND OUT INSTANTLY"�e) On next page, under HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU PAY, you will be given a range of rental rates for your city (e.g., “monthly rents for 2 bedroom apartments range from $780 to $1,040 per month). Take the average of these two figures as your MONTHLY RENT.
Monthly Rent = rent price / # of people living there
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STEP 10: Renter’s Insurance
You want to have renter’s insurance, to cover replacement of your belongings in case of theft or apartment-wide damage (flood, fire, etc).
Use this calculator to find out what Renter’s Insurance might cost in your area.
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STEP 11a: Utilities
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STEP 11b: Utilities:
Look up what utilities you might want, and how much they cost in your area such as:
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STEP 12:
Calculate your total monthly budget for the cost of living.
Cost of Living = Rent + Renter’s Insurance + Cable/Satellite + Internet + Home Phone + Mobile Phone + Electricity/Gas
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STEP 13: Public Transportation (Buses, Trains, etc.)
**If you will only use public transportation, skip to Step 18
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STEP 14: Car Payment
**If you are using public transportation, you pay $0 for a car
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STEP 15: Car Insurance
Assume between $164 (good rate, no accidents/violations, or less coverage) and $333 per month (worse rate, accidents/violations, or premo coverage)-- you must be insured!
STEP 16: Car Maintenance
Assume $100 per month -- some months will be $0, but some will be expensive!
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STEP 17: Gas - following these steps
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STEP 18:
Calculate your total monthly budget for transportation.
Cost of Transportation = Public Transportation + Car Payment + Car Insurance + Car Maintenance + Gas
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STEP 19:
Choose which meal plan you’re likely to follow for the cost of Groceries:
| Thrifty | Low Cost | Moderate Cost | Liberal Cost |
Females | $167 | $211 | $259 | $332 |
Males | $188 | $242 | $303 | $373 |
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STEP 20:
Choose which plan you’re likely to follow for the cost of Dining Out:
| $10/meal | $15/meal | $20/meal | $30/meal |
1 meal/week | $40 | $60 | $80 | $120 |
2 meals/week | $80 | $120 | $160 | $240 |
3 meals/week | $120 | $180 | $240 | $360 |
5 meals/week | $200 | $300 | $400 | $600 |
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STEP 21:
Calculate your total monthly budget for food.
Cost of Food = Groceries + Eating Out
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Calculate the cost of your insurance
STEP 22: Health Insurance
STEP 23: Dental Insurance - $25/month
STEP 24: Vision Insurance - $25/month
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STEP 25: Haircare
If you already know how much you pay for a haircut, enter it. If you’re not sure, use the US averages:
Men $28 Women $44
**If you only get a haircut every 3 months, divide the cost by 3.
STEP 26: Other Grooming/Hygiene
Everyone’s different, but let’s assume $25/mo for other hygiene, medication, grooming, or personal needs.
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STEP 27: Gym Membership
Remember, the first step to wealth is health!
If you don’t workout, or you do it free outside or at home, $0.
Otherwise, assume $58/mo for a gym membership.
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STEP 28:
Calculate your total monthly budget for health.
Cost of Health = Health Insurance + Dental Insurance + Vision Insurance + Haircuts + Other Grooming/Hygiene + Gym Membership
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STEP 29: Student Loan Payments
If you did not go to any post-high school schooling, or you somehow did so without any student loan debt, congrats on paying $0/month!
Otherwise, choose your best estimate based on how much debt you’ll have when done with college or other post-high school education:
Debt | $10,000 | $20,000 | $30,000 | $40,000 | $50,000 |
Monthly Loan Payment | $115 | $230 | $345 | $460 | $575 |
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STEP 30: Discretionary Spending
So far, your budget is neglecting FUN STUFF (clothes, going out with friends, entertainment, new technology, gift giving, donations, travel, vacations, a morning coffee, etc).
In the Wants category, record how much you’d like to be able to spend on these items (total) per month.
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STEP 31: Monthly Spending
It’s time to figure out how much you’re spending each month:
Total Costs = Cost of Living + Transportation + Food + Health + Student Loan + Wants
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STEP 32: Balance
At the end of the month, how do your finances look?
Balance = Monthly Amount for Budget - Total Costs
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Now that you’ve done the budget once through, you have a basic understanding of the components of a typical adult’s budget.
Next, continue on to the Salary-Based Budgeting Reflection. Use your Salary-Based Budgeting Worksheet and this presentation as reference.