Connor Marshman tracked his spending over one week and documented his monthly income and expenses in an Excel spreadsheet. He completed an online student budget calculator to anticipate expenses for one year of college. For his potential career in graphics and multimedia design, he found the average starting salary is $40,000 and plans to work after graduating with his bachelor's degree. Research showed average costs of $800 for an apartment, $100 per week for groceries, $400 per month for a car payment, and around $200 each for gas/electricity, water, and cable. The financial assignment gave him insight into living costs and reinforced that he is not currently independent. He plans to focus on grades for a good career, spending wi
Connor Marshman tracked his spending over one week and documented his monthly income and expenses in an Excel spreadsheet. He completed an online student budget calculator to anticipate expenses for one year of college. For his potential career in graphics and multimedia design, he found the average starting salary is $40,000 and plans to work after graduating with his bachelor's degree. Research showed average costs of $800 for an apartment, $100 per week for groceries, $400 per month for a car payment, and around $200 each for gas/electricity, water, and cable. The financial assignment gave him insight into living costs and reinforced that he is not currently independent. He plans to focus on grades for a good career, spending wi
Connor Marshman tracked his spending over one week and documented his monthly income and expenses in an Excel spreadsheet. He completed an online student budget calculator to anticipate expenses for one year of college. For his potential career in graphics and multimedia design, he found the average starting salary is $40,000 and plans to work after graduating with his bachelor's degree. Research showed average costs of $800 for an apartment, $100 per week for groceries, $400 per month for a car payment, and around $200 each for gas/electricity, water, and cable. The financial assignment gave him insight into living costs and reinforced that he is not currently independent. He plans to focus on grades for a good career, spending wi
1. Track Spending for 1 week (very detailedput into an xls document)
Spending for Connor Marshman Feb 2-8 2-Feb-14 $100 Cash Deposit 3-Feb-14 ($18)Sport Clips Haircut 4-Feb-14 ($40)School Supplies 5-Feb-14 $0 6-Feb-14 ($30)as !or car "-Feb-14 $50 Cash Deposit 8-Feb-14 $0 #otal $ala%ce& $62 2. Document: Monthly Income (financial aid); Debt (Loans (auto; home; credit card debt; overdraft); Assets-what you currently have (cash; savings; investments)put into an xls document Monthly Expenses for Connor Marshman School scholarship $"60 '((itio%al scholarships $225 '((itio%al Support !ro) pare%ts $200 *or+ stu(, $200 Cost o! -as.tolls ($300) Cost !or tuitio% ($/85) Cost o! pho%e ($35) #otal $ala%ce& $65 3. Complete calculator found on-line. Use as a month to month budget. You will anticipate your expenses for 1 year of college: http://www.waddell.com/personal_investors/interactive-planning-detail.aspx? calculator=StudentBudget (Submit a copy of the calculator to the dropbox as a pdf or word doc.) 50 Point Financial Assignment Dr. Lyles Health and Wellness Connor Marshman 4. Think about your possible careerFind out the starting average salary (if not decidedthink about 2 top choices); also find out if you will need additional training (masters degree etc.). Tell me your plan for getting to your goal. Will you go straight into a masters program, work first, etc? Optimistically for my degree in Graphics and Multimedia, a starting salary as a multimedia designer would be around $40,000. I would not be against future education, but I would like to find placement in a job immediately after I graduate with my bachelors degree. I am trying to intern at a magazine company in the Pittsburgh area. Ideally, I would love to get a job from that internship. Once I obtain a job, I likely will work my way up a pay-scale through the years. Ultimately, I would like to be self- employed and have my own business once I have established my skills. 5. Research anticipated expenseswhere you would like to live (how much does an apartment cost?; auto; student loans; anticipated expenses for food; gas/electricity, etc.) I would like to stay in the Pittsburgh area. Doing some research, it appears the average apartment for my needs is about $800. Groceries would be around $100 a week. Car payments typically run around $400 a month. I am grateful to not have any student loans I will need to pay off. As far as gas and electricity, the average is around $200. Monthly water bills appear to be $50. Cable is about $90 a month depending on the company. A cell phone can run around $30 a month. 6. Summary of what you have learned in lecture and through the assignment with regard to your personal finances. Outline what you have learned and how you plan 50 Point Financial Assignment Dr. Lyles Health and Wellness Connor Marshman to use this information going forward to secure your financial future. Please discuss 3 immediate ways you will take action now that will have an impact later. Since I am still living with my parents, this exercise was eye-opening for me when considering how much costs go into just living expenses (i.e. electricity, groceries, car payments, insurance). I have taken for granted a lot of the modern amenities that cost money. Next time I watch television, surf the internet, or drive in my car, I will be more conscious of the finances that make all those things available to me. If anything, this whole assignment makes clear to me that I am not currently capable of independent living. As far as actions I can take now to better myself financially down the road, I am focused on getting optimum grades so that I can a good career, spending available money on expenses rather than on possessions, and starting to save a little bit of money each month in a savings account.