Academic and Career Planning

Students will be able to:

List personal wants and needs.

Identify key elements related to personal finance;

• Savings

• Checking

• Budget

• Balance

• Interest

• Cost of Living

• Debt

• Debit Card

• Credit card

Activity

Understand the following terms in the context of living and being a human :

• Needs [What do you have to have in order to live and function as a human?]

• Wants [What do you like to have? What are your preferences within your needs? What do you want in order to make your life more comfortable/fun/fulfilling?]

*For each, imagine yourself as an adult with a job/career. What do you think your needs and wants will be then?

Draw a T-diagram with “Needs” as one column and “Wants” as the other.

Under “needs,” list your/human needs.

Under “wants,” list your particular wants.

Resources

Teach the difference between a “want” and a “need” in life/as a human being and address the nuances between the two concepts. There is sometimes overlap.

Example:

Needs - food, shelter, clothing

Wants - type of food, type of shelter, type of clothing

There are nuances and levels of wants within needs.

Make sure students understand that INCOME and MONEY are required to meet needs and wants.

Have students fill in a “Wants/Needs” T-diagram.

Task

Complete Needs/Wants List

Activity

Complete Needs/Wants List.

Activity

Reflect on your Needs/Wants List and answer the following questions with a partner:

• What do your wants/needs say about you and what matters to you as an individual?

• What do you think you will need to do in the future to meet your wants/needs?

• Is it possible to get all of your wants and needs? Do you think you will need to choose between wants and needs?

Task

Exit Activity - In a paragraph, reflect on your Needs/Wants List.

• What did you learn about yourself?

• What did you learn from the activity?

Activity

• How are you going to meet your needs and get some of your wants?

[Income from job/career]

• Needs/wants=EXPENSES

• How is income organized?

[Personal finances]

• What do you use your income for?

[Expenses]

Understand the following terms/elements of personal finance:

• Income

• Hourly/Salary Wage

• Deductions (taxes/Social Security/Medicare)

• Cost of Living

• Budget

• Checking Account

• Savings Account

• Balance

• Interest

• Debt

• Debit Card

• Credit card

Research the assigned terms given to you to create a vocabulary list that will help you when it is time to make a budget.

Resources

Remind students that a job/career is needed to make money/have an income and that money/an income facilitates meeting needs and wants.

Needs/wants=EXPENSES

Provide students the key elements of personal finance and ask them to research and define each.

Task

Give a quiz or some kind of assessment to determine if students understand each personal finance concept.

The key is for them to understand what BUDGET is in order to move to the next level.

Describe the elements of building a budget related to income and expenses.

Determine the relationship between your income, the cost of living, and how to make a budget.

Activity

What are the main components of a budget?

Understand that INCOME + COST OF LIVING [Expenses] = BUDGET Components

Draw a WORD concept map with BUDGET in the middle. From this, include categories of expenses that may or may not be part of a person’s monthly budget.

Resources

Teach students the elements that often go into making a financial budget based on income - this will bring back the discussion about "Needs" v. "Wants"

Examples:

• Groceries [Food]

• Personal care items

• Housing

• Basic utilities

• Transportation

• Communication

• Insurance

• Minimum loan payments

• Child care

• Other expenses that allow one to work

• Entertainment

• Recreation

Activity

In groups of 2 or more, complete the Budget Bean Game activity to see how a budget works.

Each student will be given 20 beans to “spend” on the budget categories provided.

Budget Bean Game

Resources

Follow the instructions provided by the Budget Bean Game activity (created by Jana Darrington, M.S., Family and Consumer Science Agent).

Have students complete the Budget Bean Game activity in groups of 2 or more.

There are 2 rounds. For each round, give students enough time to answer the reflection/discussion questions.

Task

Reflection: What did you learn from the Budget Bean Game? What parts of the budget were most important to you in making decisions about what to pay for and what not to pay for?

Activity

What is the relationship between income, cost of living, and how to make a budget?

• Your career’s income will determine what you can afford (cost of living).

• Your desired wants/needs (level of needs) will determine the cost of living for you, which will then demand a certain level of income.

Now that you understand the correlation between salary, expenses, and paying for what you want and need, check where you are at with your intended lifestyle and financial aspirations.

Complete Jump$tart’s Reality Check Activity

Resources

Devise an activity or assessment that captures students’ understanding of the relationship between income, cost of living, and how to make a budget.

Task

Exit Activity - What were the results of your Jump$tart Reality Check assessment?

Assessment Review:

1.) How much money do you need to make per hour?

2.) How much money do you need to make per week?

3.) What is your needed annual salary?

4.) What jobs were given that fit into your needed pay scale?

5.) What education do you need?

Create a budget using your career information from previous units and AWATO.

Evaluate your determined wants and needs as they relate to your newly created budget and career choice income.

Activity

Review the careers that were suggested for you from your AWATO assessments.

Choose 1-2 careers that appeal to you and record the following:

• Salary range

• Lowest possible salary

• Highest possible salary

Task

Exit Activity - Compare your results from the Jump$tart Reality Check activity to the salary ranges of the careers that you like. What do you notice?

Activity

Now that you understand the components of a financial budget, create a budget for your selected career(s).

Be sure to include your needs, wants, and what you think you may spend on various items/categories.

Create one for the lowest possible salary and one for the highest possible salary.

Resources

Give students workshop time to create their budgets.

Perhaps pair or group students so that they can have broader views of what can be included in budgets.

Task

Complete budget(s).

Activity

With your completed budget, analyze and evaluate the practicality of your wants and needs based on your career choice’s salary.

• Will your career choice help you meet your needs?

• Will your career choice help you meet your wants?

• Will you have to choose between wants and needs?

• What wants are you willing to give up?

Resources

Provide students with the opportunity to analyze and show what they learned about the budget(s) they created.

Task

Budget/Career Choice Analysis.

Investigate your current career path to determine what choices can you make to ensure your future financial security.

Activity

Final Activity

Review your current career path and determine what choices you can make to ensure your future financial security.

• Do you need to adjust your career aspirations and goals?

• What do you think matters more to you? Salary or job satisfaction or both?

How does financial planning impact the decisions you have to make when choosing college/career goals?

Resources

Devise a final project that culminates the self-reflection and analyses students have completed throughout this trimester.