Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 221 views

    Evan Allen - Analyze A Salary-Based Budget

    Uploaded by

    api-542840073
    This document provides reflection questions for a student who completed a salary-based budget activity. They chose a career in clinical psychology based on interest in helping people and career stability. Their initial budget had a surplus of $138 due to cutting groceries, transportation, and housing costs while earning $51,000 annually. Key lessons were that costs of living, rent, student loans and healthcare are high in the US, and saving early in one's career ensures long-term financial stability.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Evan Allen - Analyze A Salary-Based Budget

    Uploaded by

    api-542840073
    221 views3 pages
    This document provides reflection questions for a student who completed a salary-based budget activity. They chose a career in clinical psychology based on interest in helping people and career stability. Their initial budget had a surplus of $138 due to cutting groceries, transportation, and housing costs while earning $51,000 annually. Key lessons were that costs of living, rent, student loans and healthcare are high in the US, and saving early in one's career ensures long-term financial stability.

    Original Title

    evan allen - analyze a salary-based budget

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    This document provides reflection questions for a student who completed a salary-based budget activity. They chose a career in clinical psychology based on interest in helping people and career stability. Their initial budget had a surplus of $138 due to cutting groceries, transportation, and housing costs while earning $51,000 annually. Key lessons were that costs of living, rent, student loans and healthcare are high in the US, and saving early in one's career ensures long-term financial stability.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    221 views3 pages

    Evan Allen - Analyze A Salary-Based Budget

    Uploaded by

    api-542840073
    This document provides reflection questions for a student who completed a salary-based budget activity. They chose a career in clinical psychology based on interest in helping people and career stability. Their initial budget had a surplus of $138 due to cutting groceries, transportation, and housing costs while earning $51,000 annually. Key lessons were that costs of living, rent, student loans and healthcare are high in the US, and saving early in one's career ensures long-term financial stability.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    NGPF Activity Bank

    Budgeting
    Spanish version

    [RETIRED] ANALYZE: A Salary-Based Budget


    This resource and answer key will no longer be updated and may contain broken links or outdated information. To find
    the UPDATED activity, check out the Reflection slides at the end of CREATE: A Salary-Based Budget.

    Now that you’ve completed your first full budget (activity here), answer each of these reflection questions.

    Part I: Net Salary


    1. How did you choose your career?
    I chose my career based off of my interest in helping people, what would have a stable salary, and what was
    reasonable for me. I am good at reading people’s emotions and understanding their motivations, behaviour,
    and choices so I feel that working in clinical psychology would be the best path for me.

    2. Now that you’ve seen your preliminary budget, reflect on your career choice and the lifestyle you may be able
    to live as a result. What might be the benefits or challenges?
    Despite the extensive schooling that is required, I will have relative financial stability as I start out with my
    career and I will have access to affordable housing and good healthcare. I hope that wherever I go, I will be
    offered insurance or live in a country with universal healthcare. I would like to live in the city, which might
    result in higher rent, however I would not have to deal with the costs of owning a car.

    Part II: Savings Strategy


    3. How much did you decide to save (in savings and in retirement), and why did you make these choices?
    I decided to save about 10% of my net salary towards savings and retirement because I wanted to not only be
    stable in the moment, but have long term financial stability. Ensuring that my money is in an appropriate
    place is reassuring.

    4. After seeing how your final budget turned out, do you think you should be saving more or less than you
    originally chose?

    www.ngpf.org Last updated: 10/26/18


    1
    I think that I could probably save more and cute back on certain expenses in order to maintain a more
    balanced budget.

    Part III: Spending Habits


    5. When you look at your overall spending, which category are you spending the least on? Does this surprise you?
    Why or why not?
    I spent the least amount of money on transportation. This surprised me quite a bit as I was unaware of the
    affordability of public transportation, especially in cities compared to other forms of transport. I think I will
    definitely keep my car though in order to drive anywhere needed.

    6. Which category are you spending the most on? Does this surprise you? Why or why not?
    My cost of living and student loans were the most expensive categories that I chose, despite going with the
    bare essentials. I didn’t want cable or a landline and I still took in a fair bit of money. Student loans were also
    incredibly expensive.

    7. What is one category you know you could spend less on? What sacrifices would you have to make if you were to
    spend less on this category?
    I could probably cut down on the amount of food I am eating everyday and the price of my groceries every
    month.

    8. What is one category you wish you could spend more on? What would need to happen for that to be possible?
    I wish I could spend more on my total cost of health. I am someone who needs frequent doctor and therapy
    appointments, prescriptions, and testing due to my illnesses and I want to have the assurance that I am going
    to receive the best quality of care.

    Part IV: Surplus or Deficit


    9. In the end, does your budget end with a surplus or a deficit?
    My budget ended with a surplus of around 138 dollars.

    10. What decisions did you make about your budget that led to that final outcome?

    NOTE: If your budget ended with a deficit (you were spending more than you were taking home each month),

    www.ngpf.org Last updated: 10/26/18


    2
    this is not sustainable. You would need to redo your budget until your net income covers all of your monthly
    expenses.

    I decided to cut back on groceries, transportation, and an apartment in order to cut down on the amount of
    money I had at the end. I also have a relatively good starting salary, sitting around 51,000 dollars. This gives
    me enough flexibility within my budget to ensure that all of my essentials are met.

    Part V: Summary
    11. Identify two lessons you learned by completing this salary-based budget.

    1. I learned that as Americans, we have high costs in terms of living, rent, student loan, and healthcare.
    This can make it very difficult for us to afford more commodities than people who live in other
    countries.
    2. It is important to save early on in one’s career in order to ensure financial stability throughout one’s
    life. This is especially important to save for retirement from one’s job.

    www.ngpf.org Last updated: 10/26/18


    3

    You might also like