Why We Use Money Money is anything you exchange for goods or services. Before money, people bartered, or traded, to get things they needed or wanted. The face value—or denomination—of money is the number printed or stamped on it. Face value is determined by the Bank of Canada, the government agency responsible for creating and tracking all of the money in Canada. The real value of money is what it is worth to you. Purchasing power is the amount of goods or services that can be purchased with a unit of currency, or type of money.
Comparing Financial Needs and Wants Your financial needs are the things you must buy in order to survive. Your financial wants are the things you need to maintain a certain standard of living. When you understand the difference between financial needs and wants, you can make responsible choices. Financial needs and wants are different depending on your stage of life. A financial decision is a decision about how to manage your money. You can use the decision-making process for important financial decisions.
Setting Financial Goals Financial goals are the plans you have for using your money. Setting financial goals helps you focus on how you want to use your money. When you set financial priorities, you make decisions about which goal is most important to achieve first. When you set financial goals, most often you think first about your spending. You will have both short-term and long-term spending goals. It’s harder to set saving goals. Try to think about your long-term plans and objectives. You can set open-ended and flexible savings goals rather than being specific about what you are saving for.
Managing a Budget A budget is a plan for spending and saving money. A budget gives you a clear picture of where your money comes from and where it is going. Every budget has two main parts: income and expenses. The goal is to balance your budget, or make sure that your income is equal to or greater than expenses. You can set up a budget for any length of time, however, monthly is the most common format. Some income and expenses are fixed, which means you know what they are and have to pay them each month. Others are flexible or variable, which means they change from month to month.
Setting Up a Budget To enter flexible items in a budget, estimate these items by looking at past income and expenses. You can adjust the estimated amounts each month by entering the actual amounts you earned or spent. There are four basic steps for setting up a budget. List the categories or types of your monthly income. List the categories of your regular expenses. Balance your budget. At the end of the month, go back and replace the estimates with the actual amounts that you spent. Do the math! Add your total income and your total expenses, then subtract your total expenses from your total income.
Making Your Budget Work for You After you set up your budget, you can see exactly how you are spending your money. Use the Miscellaneous category in your budget to pay for unexpected expenses. Staying on budget means using your money according to your plan to achieve your financial goals. If you have a deficit, it means you are spending more money than you are earning every month. To stay on budget, you’ll have to eliminate the deficit by reducing or eliminating expenses and determining if you can increase your income.
Activity #1 Working in pairs, imagine you are planning a vacation, but you are on a limited budget. Think of ways you could have a vacation without spending a lot of money. Answer the following questions. Brainstorm where you could go and where you would stay for a budget friendly vacation. List all your suggestions. Then decide and select one of the suggestions and answer. Where will you go? How do you plan to make this a budget friendly vacation? What resources do you have available to help plan your vacation? Explain how you will save money on each of the following categories.. lodging Meals Activities/sightseeing Transportation/travel After making your plans, discuss how you think your vacation would be? Would it be a fun vacation? What could be better about your vacation? Explain your answers.
Activity #2 How did you spend the majority of your money? Track all your spending from last week. Include what you bought, where you bout it, where you got the money, and if you where happy with your purchase. Do this by preparing a table likke the example below. Item Purchased Where did you purchase it? Where did you get the money? Are you satisfied with your purchase? Explain. Amount spent How did you spend the majority of your money? Were you satisfied with the majority of your purchases? Explain. What purchases did you have to make concerning your purchases during the week? Explain
Analyzing Your Paycheck A paycheck is a written document that tells your employer’s bank how much money to give to you. You take the paycheck to the bank to exchange for cash or to transfer funds into your account. The pay stub provides information about your pay, including how much you have earned and how much your employer has deducted from your pay. A deduction is an amount that your employer withholds from your earnings to pay for things such as taxes or insurance. Even if you have a direct deposit, you will receive a pay stub that showing your earnings and deductions A pay period is the number of days for which you are being paid.
Understanding Your Paycheck Most paychecks include: Your employer’s name and address in the upper-left corner A check number The date of the check Your name as the recipient, or payee The amount of the check written in numbers and spelled out The signature of a person authorized by your employer in the lower-right corner You must endorse, or sign the back of your paycheck to before you can deposit it or cash it A pay stub is attached to the paycheck and provides a lot of information about the money you earned.
Choosing a Method of Payment The type of money you use to make a payment depends on many things, including the type of purchase. Cash is a good option for most purchases. When you use cash, you know you have enough money to make the purchase. Cash is universal. Just about everyone takes cash. The biggest drawback to cash is that it can be lost or stolen. When you write a check, you are permitting your bank to transfer money from your account to the payee’s account. If you use a checking account, you must keep the account balanced. That means keeping track of the deposits and payments you have made.
Debit and Credit Cards, EFTs, and Installment Plans A debit card is more convenient than cash. You must have a bank account with enough money to cover your purchases. Most debit cards require you to enter a personal identification number (PIN) with each use. When you use a credit card, you are borrowing money from the business that issued the card. With installment buying, you agree to make with a series of future payments at specified intervals for a large purchase. You use electronic fund transfers (EFT) to transfer money from one bank account to another. You must have electronic access to your bank account and enough money in your bank account to cover your purchases.
Personal Money Management Review Money is anything you exchange for goods or services. Purchasing power is the amount of goods or services that can be purchased with a type of money. Your financial needs are the things you must buy in order to survive. Your financial wants are the things you need to maintain a certain standard of living. Financial goals are the plans you have for using your money. A budget is a plan for spending and saving money. Staying on budget means using your money according to your plan to achieve your financial goals.
Review (continued) A paycheck is a written document that tells your employer’s bank how much money to give to you. A pay stub is attached to the paycheck and provides a lot of information about the money you earned. The type of money you use to make a payment depends on many things, including the type of purchase. A debit card is like cash but more convenient. You must have a bank account with enough money to cover your purchases. When you use a credit card, you are borrowing money from the business that issued the card.
Assignment You are 2 years away from planning to go off to college or university. You need to plan for your finances now. Prepare a brief financial report by researching on the Internet (ex website of college/university you plan to go to and provincial/federal government ). First, find out the following cost per year. Tuition Housing Meal plans Textbooks Other fees Miscellaneous costs Now total the amount for one year of college costs. What costs could be reduced? Explain how they could be reduced in your report. Find out if there is any financial aide available? If so, what would you need to do to apply? Include this information in your report.