Assessment : Financial Budgeting

In this module, you have created a realistic personal budget that includes costs for education, savings,
housing, transportation, food, and other items. You have considered the how and why of staying (or getting)
out of debt, building credit, and saving for short and long term expenses. For your assessment, please show
that you have considered carefully all these items.

Part I: Net Salary

1. Please explain what you see as some of the benefits and challenges of creating and sticking to a budget.
By creating a budget you can live without much stress due to the fact everything is affordable. Sticking to a
budget also lets the person save up for later in their life.

2. Using the budget you created in the module as a guide, explain at least five items that should be part of a
budget and provide a brief explanation of why these items are important to include.
Health insurance is important as it has you covered for any injuries or unexpected incidents. Groceries are a
must have as you will starve without them. Electricity, gas, and water are also essential things as they will
keep you warm, power your house, and let you cleanse yourself. A cell phone plan is also essential as you will
need to communicate with the people in your life as well as co-workers or your boss. Another essential thing
to have is dental insurance as you will need to get your teeth cleaned annually to keep yourself healthy.

Part II: Savings Strategy

3. Using the budget you created in the module as a guide, explain why someone would save every month for both
short term and long term expenses. State how much is reasonable every month to save according to your
personal budget.
Saving for short term expenses can let you get the things you want while also living comfortably. Saving for
the long-term is also beneficial to anyone as they will need money later down the line when they retire or
cannot work anymore due to their condition.

Part III: Surplus or Deficit

4. In the end, does your budget end with a surplus or a deficit?
In the end my budget ended with a surplus. However, it was just enough to get by.

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 5. 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),
this is not sustainable. You would need to redo your budget until your net income covers all of your monthly
expenses.

All of the decisions I made resulted in a surplus of money. I had just enough to get by with a little spending
money available. To make my budget work out I needed to get the bare minimum for optional services such
as cable and opted for broadcast TV which costed me nothing. I also had to cut back on the savings and opted
for 10% per month into my savings account.

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

Overall, this lesson has taught me that I need to be cautious about my spending when living alone for the first
time. I won’t be able to have all the things I have now as I will be beginning with a starting salary. Seeing what
little spending money I ended up with makes me more motivated to save for the short and long term as I will
be able to live a better life than I would be starting out. Now that I know what my budget could look like, I
need to spend smartly, and come up with a plan for both long and short term.