Introduction
Definitions and Basics
● How to build your first budget, at MSN.com.
● Angelica Trummell, 22, just graduated from college — and went off the parental dole. Like millions of other college graduates, she’s trying to figure out how to make ends meet now that Mom and Dad won’t be sending checks every month….
● Making a Budget, at SocialStudiesforKids.com.
● One thing that every good money manager does is make a budget.
● What is a budget? It’s a means of keeping track of exactly how much money is coming in and exactly how much money is going out. If you own a company or you get an allowance, you want to know how much money you have at any given time. You don’t want to run out of money, so you won’t have any when you really need it. You also don’t want to assume that you don’t have any money when you really do have more than enough to pay for something….
In the News and Examples
● McArdle on Debt and Self-Restraint. EconTalk podcast.
● Megan McArdle, who writes the blog Asymmetrical Information at The Atlantic, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about debt and the challenge of self-restraint. She discusses her recent Atlantic article on her experience at a Dave Ramsey personal finance seminar, how it affected her life, and the psychology of self-restraint. The conversation concludes with a discussion of debt and savings during the Great Depression and the current national debt of the United States.
● Fox News’s College Planning, at FoxNews.com:
● This Fox News website has articles on College Financial Aid, College Tuition, and more. Articles include calculators and helpful analyses, such as Comparing Financial Aid Offers, College Savings Superpage, and Student Loans Demystified.
● Budget Worksheet, at About.com.
● Sample budget worksheet, with printable version.
● Budgeting your time is analogous to budgeting your money: Time Management Tips For College Students, at CollegeBoard.com.
● Does it seem like there’s never enough time in the day to get everything done? Feel like you’re always running late? Here are some tips for taking control of your time and organizing your life….
● Planning for the Cost of Higher Education, at Yahoo.com.
● On average, college graduates with a bachelor’s degree earn 62% more per year than high school graduates. Clearly, one of the best investments you can make for your children is an investment in their educational future.
● You may think that setting up a bank savings account for your newborn’s education will get him or her off to a great start. You might, however, want to think again. According to 2005 data from The College Board and Standard & Poor’s, the projected average cost for your newborn’s four-year degree at a public college could total $151,425. You would have to sock away $5,126 per year in a savings account, assuming it earns interest at an average rate of 5% per year, to equal that amount by his or her freshman year….
● Sometimes The IRS Just Doesn’t Care – income tax on teenage earnings, at FindArticles.com. Kimberly Lankford, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine, March 2001.
● Q & A: How to figure out whether a teen owes income taxes on babysitting earnings….
