Jose Antonio M.

Barroso Midterm
Paper
BASFIN2 K32
March 15, 2017
1. Analyze your income and expense statement (use
graphs/charts)
Week 1 (Feb 12- Week 2 (Feb 19- Week 3 (Feb 26- Week 4 (Mar 5-11)
18) 25) Mar 4)
Allowance 200 Allowance 200 Allowance 200 Allowance 2000
0 0 0
500 500 500 5000
Credit card 0 Credit card 0 Credit card 0 Credit card
(monthly (monthly (monthly (monthly
limit) limit) limit) limit)
Commute 660 Commute 660 Commute 660 Commute 660
(cash) (cash) (cash) (cash)
Food (cash) 720 Food (cash) 720 Food (cash) 720 Food (cash) 720
Food (card) 650 Food (card) 700 Food (card) 185 Food (card) 800
0
Personal 189 Personal - Personal 175 Personal 300
(card) (card) (card) 0 (card)
Outlay 500 Outlay 500 Outlay 500 Outlay 500
(savings) (savings) (savings) (savings)
printing 106 printing 85 printing 54 printing 111
Cash balance 14 Cash balance 35 Cash balance 66 Cash balance 9
Card Balance 416 Card Balance 346 Card Balance (13 Card Balance (123
1 1 9) 9)

I divided my source of income into two categories. The first is cash

allowance and the second is credit card allowance. Im given an
allowance of 2000 a week; a total of 8000 a month. I also have a credit
card extension from my dad to which is technically limitless but I set
my limit at 5000 a month though it can exceed slightly.
I have constant expenses for my commute everyday which is 120 (FX,
Jeep and Shuttle) so my expenses there is just multiplied by the days I
am in school every week
My food expense, I try to limit it to 120 a day but if ever I just use my
card if I exceed.
My expenses in my card are more personal. I use my credit card when I
get a haircut, buy books and supplies or to dinner with my friends and
siblings.
I also allot money constantly for printing since I print cases on a daily
basis but I dont set a budget for this since it depends on the number
of pages.
Lastly, I outlay 500 a week for my savings which I still consider as an
expense because I allot it for future expenses during break.
Jose Antonio M. Barroso Midterm
Paper
BASFIN2 K32
March 15, 2017
2. Is your income sufficient?
At first glance of my expenses, I would say Im barely getting by if not
coming out of a deficit every week. I get an allowance of 2000 per week
which I spend generally on food, commute and printing. These three
expenses are the major and commonly allocated expenses for my allowance.
Because of this, I set a certain budget for food since it is the one that
fluctuates depending on what I feel like eating. I limit it to 120 per meal a
day; 720 a week for 6 days. I also outlay a constant 500 a week as savings
for things I want to do during the break wherein I dont get allowance such as
gym, movies and trips. The small excess (surplus), if I do have goes to my
coin bank since, theyre often coins or small bills.
I also have a credit card extension from my dad for expenses that are
expensive, school related, for dates or other leisure activities. I technically
dont have a credit card limit but of course I set a limit for myself monthly
since it is easy to get carried away. Based on my credit card expenses, I often
go beyond my limit by hundreds or sometimes a thousand but I try my best
to keep in my set limit.
Regarding the question if my income is sufficient, I would say it is
oftentimes JUST RIGHT and ENOUGH to meet my needs. I oftentimes have to
give up or forego certain expenses that make life a little less uncomfortable
such as taking a grab to school which is much more expensive than the usual
FX and Jeep combo I ride to get to school. I can manage given my allowance
but it comes with sacrifices.
3. What is the biggest challenge that you encountered in keeping
up with your budget?
The biggest challenge I encountered in keeping up with my budget is
keeping track of my food expenses. I usually arrive at school early to study
and my classes end at 9:15 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays and I have
chorale rehearsals on Tuesdays. Thursdays and Fridays until 9:00. My crazy
schedule requires me to oftentimes take my 3 meals in school adding to my
expenses. I only allot 120 for my meals a day and at times I have to use my
credit card instead to pay for my meals which is hard since few
establishments accept credit cards as payment. To add to this, my weekends
are unpredictable because of performance requests here and there. Going to
school outside the regular school days of M,T,W and H adds to commuting
and food expense, leaving it hard to save more than what I set aside for
outlay.
4. Use the savings ratio and interpret
Jose Antonio M. Barroso Midterm
Paper
BASFIN2 K32
March 15, 2017
Cash Surplus 2124
Savings Ratio =
Income after Taxes 8000 = 0.2655 =
26.55%
The value of 26.55 % represents my cash savings ration, which stands for
the amount of money I saved at the end of the month expressed in
percentage in relation to my total cash allowance (income). Looking at I
would say it is pretty much a decent percentage given the number of
expenses I deal with weekly. I am able to save little to over 1/5 of the
monthly allowance I get from my dad as my savings.
5. Do you have a cash surplus or a cash deficit? What did you do
with your excess money or how did you solve your cash deficit?
Technically, I actually dont go into cash deficit however my cash surplus
barely reaches 100 weekly so I can say I pretty much breakeven because I
count the outlay as an expense as well. My strategy is when I lack cash or
when Im almost out of cash, I use my credit card and I pay for my friends
meal then I ask him/her to pay me so I have cash. In a practical sense I have
much more need for cash than credit so I use this strategy so I could have
extra cash to fund my expenses since its my dad who pays my card
anyways.
6. What is the biggest portion of your expenses? Is it reasonable?
Do you see the need in reprioritizing your expenses?
The biggest portion of my expenses is allocated to food. I think it is
reasonable because I consider myself as a very frugal person thus I only
spend on commute, food and printing and rarely for other things which I find
a way to acquire without paying such as borrowing and asking. Furthermore;
I understand how my food expense is considerably big since as I mentioned a
while ago, I often take my 3 meals in school given my schedule. Given that,
majority of my money goes to food since I am one who functions poorly
when I am famished. I consider eating something important. My colleagues,
peers and friends know this for the fact that my attitude and mood depends
greatly if Ive eaten well. I can handle being sleep deprived but not being
hungry.
7. Do you see the importance of budgeting in the activity? Why or
why not?
Yes. I must admit keeping track of my expenses was very hard. Recording
it in the app was somewhat a hassle since I barely get breaks in between
everything I do and so I record them pretty late. Oftentimes I just
Jose Antonio M. Barroso Midterm
Paper
BASFIN2 K32
March 15, 2017
approximate my money left and make sure I have enough to commute until
my last school day for the week. Using the app made me more aware of my
present money left putting me in situations where I choose not to buy
something like dessert after lunch and things like that just to have enough
for something else. The activity was also able to further stress the
importance of watching my spending since I barely make it to the week with
money to spare. In cases of emergencies such as If I needed to get home late
and grab home I should have money to do so. I realized I should always
remember the principle that in order to get something we must give up
something in return. This principle became a staple in deciding whether Im
going to buy that extra rice or ice cream, will I have enough to get home or
just in case I get really hungry. The activity made me see the importance of
budgeting by showing me the importance of the choice of what we choose to
do with our money. One must have foresight in what he might need his
money for therefore he must think well before spending it.
8. What effective strategies should you do to improve your
budgeting?
My strategy for budgeting was simple: first, I already take out the money I
need to commute for the week. Since fares of public transport are pretty
much constant, this is pretty easy to compute. Afterwards, I take out my
outlay for the week which is 500 from whats left. This ensures that I have
savings for the week regardless if I finish all my money. Whatevers left is
allocated for food and other expenses that may come up.
I find this strategy effective since it makes an early realization for me of
the money I actually have minus everything that I am sure to pay without a
choice. Knowing all the money I have left makes it easy to budget and not to
get carried away with spending. Before I employed this method (my frosh
days) I would run out of money as early as Wednesdays knowing full well I
have class until Friday or sometimes Saturday. The end result is me having to
compromise to keep in budget like bringing packed lunch or at times not
eating until Im home. Budgeting this way improved how I handled my
finances.
9. In what ways did the app help you in terms of budgeting or
expense tracking? What are the limitations in the app/site you
used?
The app proved to be a good tool in tracking my expenses. As Ive said
before, given my busy schedule I often forget to record my expenses but
then the app itself gives me notifications to track them and record. This was
actually a lifesaver on my part since it would have been more hassle if I was
Jose Antonio M. Barroso Midterm
Paper
BASFIN2 K32
March 15, 2017
to record a lag of expenses like a week ago since I dont really keep all my
receipts and the majority of the things I buy with cash do not come with
receipts. To add to this, the app was very organized and user friendly. It
doesnt really take that much knowledge of finance or accounting to use it. It
simplifies it as long as you record the money you get and you record the
money you spend. It can be more comprehensive if need be but I guess the
fact that it can be both user friendly and comprehensive depending on the
user is a big factor. Over-all I actually see limitations on the app since the
intended users of such is always on the go so making it more complicated or
wide in scope might be disadvantageous.