6.5 Making a Personal Budget

Heather has graduated college and currently works as a nurse for a rural medical group. Her net monthly income from that job is $3,765.40. She also works part-time on the weekends, earning another $672.00 per month. Her monthly expenses are rent at $1,050, car payments at $489, student loan payments at $728, car insurance at $139, utilities at $130, clothing at $150, entertainment (going out with…

Carol is working in a dental lab, creating dentures and bridges. Monthly her take home pay is $2,816 (based on $22 per hour minus payroll taxes). She also receives $320 per month in child support for her one daughter. Her monthly expenses are rent at $700, car payments at $229, student loan payments at $250, car insurance at $119, health insurance at $225, utilities at $80, clothing at $75, entert…

In the example above, Carol had excess income of $708.00. She looks up the cost of before-school care for her daughter. She finds that, monthly, the cost would be $252.00 per month. Is this an affordable program for Carol? Add this expense to her budget table.

In the example above, after Carol added before school care for her daughter to the budget, her budget was as shown below. Evaluate Carol’s budget using the 50-30-20 budget philosophy.

Carmen is about to graduate and has been offered a job at a bank as a data scientist. She estimates her monthly take home pay to be $5,662.50. Apply the 50-30-20 philosophy to that monthly income. How should Carmen use this information?

Steve is thinking of moving out of his family’s home. He currently works at a full-time job making $18 per hour, which will give him, approximately, a net annual income of $29,180 (working 40 hours per week for 52 weeks per year). He has student debt that he pays off at $218.00 per month, and already owns a car that he pays $162.00 per month for.

1. Apply the 50-30-20 budget philosophy to Steve’s in…