Overview

For this assignment, you will continue working on your Life Plans and Goals Worksheet which will be submitted later.

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Think about how much money you spend on bills every month. For this section, you do not need to record exact amounts, but if you would like to, you might want to spend some time looking over your bank statements online for the past few months to find out exactly where your money goes. Many banks offer tools in their online apps that make it easy to sort each transaction into categories and get a sense of how much money you really spend on everything in your life.

If you already have a budget set for yourself, you do not need to go back through your bank statements. You may simply record the information from your budget on your Life Plans and Goals Worksheet.

Once you have determined your expenditures, you can estimate what sort of salary will be required to support you and your family. It is important to know how much money you need to make each year before choosing a career path. Just because a career requires a college degree is no guarantee that the career will pay you enough to cover your expenses! Another common mistake that people make when looking at salaries is believing that the "salary" that comes with a job is equal to the amount of money that you will take home in your paychecks. Taxes can take out a big chunk and leave you with a hole in your budget if you don't take them into account when choosing a career field. The last step in this assignment is to determine what sort of salary you will need in order to put enough money into your bank account to pay your bills.

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Once you have determined how much money you spend each month on bills, complete Part 3: Costs of Living of your Life Costs and Goals Worksheet.

First, complete the Costs of Living Chart in Part 3: Costs of Living on your Life Costs and Goals Worksheet, using the estimates you have made on your current monthly bills.
Next, look back over the rest of the worksheet and complete the Totals Chart, the Other Expenses Chart, and the Minimum Salary Requirement, using the information you have gathered in this module.
When you are finished, move on to Life Costs and Goals assignment page to submit this assignment by clicking on Next at the bottom of this screen.