Personal Finance Project
Title: Personal Finance Project
Assignment Instructions: Personal Finance Project
125 Points
There is not just one way to manage your personal finances! The
purpose of this project is to introduce you to some different ways to
manage some essential tasks:
1. Basic Budgeting:
Here are some questions that need answering:
a. What portion of my available funds should be for
essentials?
b. What are the essentials?
c. What portion of my available funds should be for saving?
d. What portion of my available funds should be for non-
essentials?
e. What non-essentials are important to me?
f. What is an emergency fund and how much should it be?
2. Budgeting System:
Here are some questions:
a. How does Zero-Based Budgeting work?
b. What about expenses that aren’t monthly?
c. How does the Envelope System work?
d. How do I set up a Budget Spreadsheet?
e. What if my income varies through the year?
f. What budgeting system might work best for me and why?
3. Savings:
Here are some questions:
a. What are some typical short-term savings goals?
b. What are my short-term savings goals?
c. What are some typical long-term savings goals?
d. What are my long-term savings goals?
e. When should I start saving for retirement and why?
f. What are some savings strategies that might work for me?
Hint: Search “Savings Challenges”
4. Controlling and Reducing Spending:
Here are some questions:
a. Where can I reduce my essential expenses?
b. How can I control impulse spending?
c. How can I save money on my non-essential expenses?
I. How do you answer all these questions? (And yes, you do need to
answer all of them.) The ones highlighted in yellow apply
specifically to your personal situation. The remaining questions
can be answered through research, online and otherwise. (You
may, in fact, already know some of the answers. Please back your
knowledge up with research!) What if you don’t currently manage
your own finances or know that your situation will be changing
when you finish school? What if you don’t want to share personal
information? In those cases, you can answer the questions
hypothetically.
II. Deliverable(s): Based on your answers to all of these questions,
create a PowerPoint presentation. Include these slides:
1. Title Page with your name, date, and class. (1 slide)
2. At least one slide each for Basic Budgeting, Budgeting
System, Saving, and Controlling and Reducing Spending. (4
or more slides.)
a. Each slide should have a header with the section name.
b. List the questions and your answers to them.
c. Give the sources of your information.
3. A slide with an embedded Excel that shows your monthly
projected income, monthly projected expenses, and net cash
flow (difference between income and expenses.) (Use
template provided.) (1 slide)**
4. A final slide with your Reflection on this project. This
should be about what you have learned while doing the
project and how that will affect your personal financial
management now or in the future. (1 slide)
**It is possible to embed a live Excel in a PowerPoint slide, but
students often struggle with this. It is acceptable to embed a
legible image of your Excel. (It is NOT acceptable to insert a
link.)
Rubric:
Title Page 5 pts
Formatting, Mechanics 10 pts
Basic Budgeting Slide(s) 20 pts
Budgeting System Slide(s) 20 pts
Saving Slide(s) 20 pts
Controlling and Reducing Spending Slide(s) 20 pts
Excel 15 pts
Paper Format: APA
Answer preview to Personal Finance Project
APA
6PPT
