Task 1

Nowadays, adolescents rashly spend most of their money away without any financial planning. Over 90% of the adolescent’s parents are concerned about their children’s financial problems such as overspending and budget deficits.(1) According to the research of 00000, the adolescents’ knowledge of money management was decreased from 51% in 2007 to 35% in 2011.(8) I presume that budgeting can control income and expenses, therefore it would help the adolescents to achieve their financial goal. By having a good budget, adolescents can become aware of their financial situation and develop a spending plan to reach the financial goal in the future.(0) Hence, my topic is budgeting for the adolescents.

Budgeting is a crucial financial tool, it is also a basis that can assist adolescents in reducing their financial problems.(2) Not only does budgeting help adolescents develop a spending plan and future goals, but it also leads them to acknowledge their income accurately, and develop advanced money management skills for their future planning.(2) 000000 research shows that high school students who had a personal financial education have higher rate of saving their income in comparison to students who didn’t undertake the program.(1) For most students, over 92%, acknowledged that having good money management can surely assist them in living a successful and financially stable life.(1)

Task 2

In order to develop good budgeting, there are three factors to consider.( ) The first factor is income and expenses.( ) Identifying the monthly income and expenses are the first things to do in order to have an insight of the current financial situation.(12) All income must be added including allowance, interest and dividends, gifts, and wages.(2) After adding up all the income, then the adolescents need to categorize the expenses in four sections to add up all the expenses.(12) The four categories consists of fixed expenses, variable expenses, periodic expenses, and emergency or unplanned for expenses.(12)

By calculating all the monthly income and expenses, spending and saving plan can be schemed out.( ) This is the second point for budgeting.( ) Adolescents spend their money to fulfill their needs and wants.(12) However, in order to have a good spending plan for the budgeting, they need to control themselves well, and they must spend less than their monthly income.(12) The “saving plan” is a plan for saving up money for future needs and wants.(12) According to the research of 00000, almost 90% of the people states that a good saving plan can help us reach the freedom of needs and wants further in life.(1) Go through the expenses and eliminate the discretionary spending for your saving plan.

The last factor is building financial goals.(12) The financial goals consists of two sets which are short-term goals such as 000, and 00000 and long-term goals such as 00000, and 00000.(12) After listing the goals, start to establish a budget to achieve the goals.

Task 3

1. Through this lecture, I will present how adolescents may use budgeting for their future. This lecture covers financial terms such as income, expenses, saving, spending, financial goals and budget. It also covers a few things to keep in mind, and a few steps to go through in order to create a budget.

2. Nowadays, adolescents rashly spend most of their money away without any financial planning. Do you have any idea what this number represents? Surprisingly, this number indicates the percentage of the adolescent’s parents who are concerned about their children’s financial problems such as overspending and have a budget deficit. According to the research of 00000, in 2011, only 35% of the adolescents know how to manage money.

3. In terms of money management, in order to have freedom in the future, and to live a relaxed and successful life, we should know how we could manage money wisely. 0000 research also proves that over 92%, acknowledges that having good money management can surely help them to live a successful life. I think creating a budget is a basic financial tool that can assist the adolescents in reducing their financial problems.

4. As I mentioned, budgeting is the basis of a financial tool, and it is also crucial to solving financial troubles. By having a good budget, the adolescents can become aware of their financial situation and develop a spending plan to reach the financial goal in the future. In order to develop good budgeting, there are three factors to consider. The three factors are income and expenses, saving and spending, and short-term and long-term financial goals.

5. Identifying the monthly income and expenses are the first things to do in order to have an insight of the current financial situation. “Income” is the money that you earn regularly or irregularly from work or personally. They can be allowance, wages, gifts, interest and dividends, stipends, tips and wages. “Expense” is the money that you spend with intention or accidentally. These expenses can be categorized into four sections. “Fixed expenses” such as rent and mortgage, “Variable expenses” such as food, clothes, and phone bill, “Periodic expenses” such as car insurance and savings and “Unplanned expenses” such as emergency spending. To build a budget, you need to list and calculate monthly income and expense, so that the spending and saving plan can be schemed out.

6. The second thing to do is making a saving and spending plan. “Saving” is storing away extra money for future needs and wants, and “spending” is buying necessities such as food, transportation, and health care. Also, “spending” is buying something what we desire such as ipads, jewelry, movie tickets and video games. To save money for future, we should spend less than our monthly income. We cannot do impulse buying. We need to spend money under the plan.

7. The last thing to do for budgeting is setting short-term and long-term financial goals. “Short-term goals “are what we can achieve within one or two years such as buying laptop, and “Long-term goals” are what we can achieve in a long period of more than five years such as buying property. In order to set out wise financial goals, the goals should comply with SMART. S for specific, M for measurable, A for attainable, R for realistic, and T for time bound.

8. There is an example of setting goals following SMART goals.

9. We can practice how to set SMART goals.

10. On the basis of what I’ve explained, we can create a budget. I found 12 steps written by 0000 who is professor in 0000 university. He suggested 12 steps to create the budget more effectively. You can refer to these steps.

11. Additionally, I found websites and phone apps that can help you to create the budget.

12. I will finish this lecture with a wise saying by Joe Biden who is 47th Vice president of the United State. “Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” Start creating your budget people!!