LIFE AFTER HIGH SCHOOL...: Process

Process

STEP 1- YOUR CAREER

What do you want to be? What profession could you imagine yourself doing?

Go to http://www.collegegrad.com/salaries/salaries.shtml to look up various careers and salaries.

Click on all titles to view all of the industries.

Use the drop down menu to choose the industry that best describes what field you would like to work in.

Use the drop down menu to choose the state that you live in.

Skim through the list of careers for that industry until you find the one that best describes the profession you’re interested in.

Click on Base pay and use the smallest salary on the graph because this represents the starting salary. Your salary will increase the longer you work in the profession.

Use the yearly salary to figure out your monthly salary.

Record this amount (monthly career salary) in the spreadsheet.

STEP 2- WHERE WILL YOU LIVE?

You need to figure out where and how you will live.

Go to www.move.com to choose what type of apartment you will live in and where.

Record the amount of rent in the spreadsheet.

STEP 3- HOUSEHOLD BILLS

Most places include heat and hot water in the rent. So let’s assume that is included. You are still responsible for electric and gas. Let’s use an estimated figure of $60 a month.

Record this amount in the utilities column of the spreadsheet.
Decide whether you will have cable, internet, and phone.
If so, shop around for prices via the internet. Go to sites such as www.verizon.com, www.cablevision.com. www.comcast.com

Record this amount in the household bills column of the spreadsheet.

STEP 4- TRAVEL

Having a car has both advantages and disadvantages. Of course, you can travel faster and more conveniently, but there is the price of gas, insurance, and maintenance. So if you decide to purchase a car you have to include this in your monthly budget.

If you decide to take public transportation go to www.njtransit.com to find the price of a monthly bus pass.

Note: If you decide to travel by bus, skip steps 5 and 6.

If you decide to travel by car, go to www.cars.com. It gives the option of looking for a new car or used car. After browsing through the options, price the car of your choice, and determine price of monthly payments.

STEP 5- CAR INSURANCE

If you can not to pay for the car in full, you will have car payment. This means that you must get full coverage insurance because the car dealership wants to be sure that if the car is wrecked, it will still be paid for by the insurance.

Add $200 a month for car insurance.

Record this amount in spreadsheet.

STEP 6- GAS

Of course, in order for you to drive, you will need gas. We will assume that you will not travel a lot and use the figure $100 for monthly gas expenses. Depending on how much you travel, it could be higher or lower than this, although probably not lower because gas prices are increasing.

Record this amount in your spreadsheet.

STEP 7- NECESSITIES

Think about the amount of money you will spend each week on the following, and then multiply that number by four to get a monthly total:

Food (At home and at work)
Grooming (Hair, haircut, shapeup, eyebrows, etc)
Clothes

Record these amounts in the spreadsheet.

Other necessities (toiletries, recreation fees, etc.)

Record this amount in the miscellaneous column in the spreadsheet.

STEP 8- MINIMUM WAGE

Now that all of your spendings are in your spreadsheet, the last two columns have calculated your total spendings and your final balance. Your balance is how much money you will have left at the end of the month. Okay, lets see what your balance would be if you were living on a minimum wage salary.

Go to NJ Dept of Labor website ( http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/) to look up the minimum wage for NJ.
Calculate your monthly salary if you were recieving minimum wage and you worked 40 hours a week.
Record this amount (monthly minimum wage salary) in the second spreadsheet entitled Minimum Wage Salary.
Fill in the remainder of the spreadsheet with the same data as the Career Spreadsheet.
Note the difference in your budget's balance.

Step 9- COMPARE THE TWO LIFESTYLE BUDGETS

Compare your monthly balance for a career salary and a minimum wage salary.
Create a PowerPoint presentation. Each step should have its own slide explaining why you made that choice.
Your presentation should also include a pie chart representing your budget based on the excel spreadsheet.
The final slide in the presentation should state the difference between the two budgets and what you’ve learned during this webquest.