All resources in Oregon Personal Financial Education

Budgeting and Goal Setting

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At the most basic level, a budget is a way to keep track of the money you are getting and the money you are spending. A budget is a great way to make sure that you can cover your expenses from month to month. If you have a set income that you use to cover your expenses, chances are, making a budget is the right choice for you.

Material Type: Reading

Author: Yale University

Financial Literacy - Spending 101

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The best part of making money is being able to spend it! In this section, we will talk about spending money, and share some resources to help you make good spending decisions. It is important to find a balance between the money you spend on necessities, the money you save, and the money you can spend on whatever you want. The easiest way to differentiate is by making a budget. A budget is a way for you to determine how much money you need to spend per month on necessities such as rent and food, decide how much you wish to save, and then understand how much money you have left over to spend.

Material Type: Reading

Author: Yale University

The Importance of Budgets - Lesson and Activity

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This lesson teaches students about the importance of budgets. First, use the Discussion Guide (found in Task 1) to teach students about this concept. Then, use the activity (found in Task 3) to assess their understanding. This activity allows students to understand the importance of budgeting, as well as to interpret and analyze budgeting decisions. A sample answer guide is provided in the Resource Library. A full lesson module related to this concept can be found on the MBA Learning Center. Visit mba.instructure.com and search for "FI:106" in the Commons.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

Author: MBA Research and Curriculum Center

Activity: Budgeting "with Beans"

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In Round 1, students learn to allocate their "20 bean salary" according to which options they want to spend their beans on. Round 2 forces the students to reduce their salary to 13 beans and make decisions about where they should make their "cuts". Round 3 includes some "life happens" challenges that allow students to make more decisions on where to move the beans in order to deal with the situations. This activity completes with some reflection questions on how this activity relates to budgeting with real income.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

Author: Cindy Lowe

Assignment: Family Budget

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This is a full project that can be used in to meet standards around budgeting and money management. This usually takes the students about 5 hours to complete and it is very comprehensive to cover all future spending. The assignment requires the students to "screenshot" proof of items they found for their budget (and support each item with evidence). Students really enjoy this project (and adults have used it too for budgeting in real life!). Students may chose to have $0 spending on some items (pets, legal, etc.), but they should explain their reasoning for entering a zero. As well, students should enter savings into their budget (at least 10% of earnings).

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Homework/Assignment

Author: Cindy Lowe

Budgeting Analysis: Are They Making Ends Meet?

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This task allows the students to create a family’s cash flow budget based on their current situation, analyze strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to their household budget, and give the family some financial advice. The assignment also asked the students various planning questions regarding family budgets, events that affect the budget and variables to consider when a household plans their budgets.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Homework/Assignment

Author: Cindy Lowe

Assignment: Budgeting Mini Cases

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This activity contains three case studies which allow students to evaluate situations that are considered when budgeting. The students will create budgets for the individuals in the cases as part of this assignment. This activity uses mini cases to help develop some problem- solving skills in relation to budgeting. Situational analysis allows students to role play and help the person in the case figure out how to budget and deal with their financial decisions. Cases allow for students to role play in real life scenarios that they may experience in their future.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Case Study, Homework/Assignment

Author: Cindy Lowe

Comic "The Game Plan" by The Healthy Aboriginal Network

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Comic Book titled “The Game Plan” by The Healthy Aboriginal Network https://istorystudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Game-Plan.pdf The Healthy Aboriginal Network’s Game Plan is a comic book for Aboriginal youth featuring a teenager named Jake who struggled with financial wellbeing until he was taught a lesson or two in financial literacy. Making the right financial decisions helped Jake achieve his goals and feel financially empowered.

Material Type: Reading

Author: Cindy Lowe