This document outlines a personal finance workshop that teaches participants how to create and manage a budget. It discusses the importance of setting financial goals and tracking income and expenses, categorizing fixed and variable costs, and understanding take-home pay after taxes. Participants engage in activities like recording their own spending, analyzing sample budgets, and creating a budget to meet hypothetical financial goals based on a case study income scenario. The goal is for participants to learn budgeting strategies to help achieve their own savings objectives.

1. Personal finances workshop
Erasmus+ New Literacy Set Project
2015-2017

2.  Would you like to purchase a laptop or a car?
 Do you plan to pay for a college education?
 Do you want to earn a certain amount of money by a particular age?
 How to achieve financial goals?
 Share strategies with others!

3.  It is a plan for spending and saving
 It helps us reach financial goals
 An important part of creating an accurate budget is tracking exactly how much
money comes in and goes out each month
 CASH FLOW = concept of money coming in (income and earnings) and money
going out (expenses and spending)

4.  STUDENT ACITVITY: Record on a piece of paper what you have spent money on
over the last two days:
 Have you bought any food, clothing or electronics?
 Have you gone to the movies with a friend or bought any groceries or food?
 fixed expenses = they are the same each month, such as a rent, phone or car
payment
 variable expenses = they change in price and frequency each month, like food or
gas
 STUDENT ACITVITY: label your purchases as fixed or variable expenses

5.  If you want to buy a home, will your mortgage be a fixed or variable expense?
 If you want to take a vacation to Europe, will that be a fixed or variable expense?
 Have you earned any money this month (e.g., birthday cash, paycheck or
allowance)?
 How do you keep track of what you make and what you spend?

6.  This is the total amount of money you earn before taxes.
 State and social security taxes are all deducted from your gross income (self-
employed individuals also pay a self-employment tax).
 Once taxes are deducted from your gross pay, you are left with what is called net
pay.
 This is the actual money you take home and the number you start with when
building a budget.

7.  Work in groups of 4-5
 You need to study three different budgets showing fixed and variable expenses.
 Your challenge will be to decide which budget is the most effective in meeting the
budgeter’s individual goals.
 What adjustments could be made to meet the goal sooner?
 Share your answers!

8.  Work on your own on creating your own budget
 CASE:You just accepted your first job and you’ll be earning a gross income of
$30,000/year.You live on your own and are responsible for all expenses, including
rent, car, insurance,cell phone, utilities, entertainment, food, savings and
miscellaneous expenses.You have to pay 25% of your gross income in taxes.
1. CalculateYour Take Home Pay
2. Categorize Expenses

9.  Think back to the goals you defined in the beginning of class.
 Write on shared Padlet wall about how you will use budgeting to achieve these
objectives.
 How much will you need to save?
 What fixed and variable expenses can you adjust in order to meet your goals
sooner?
 AFTER THEWORKSHOP:Try recording everything you purchase over a month.
Can you identify any patterns (e.g. eating out every Friday?, goding to the movies
each week?)