A budget is a breakdown of what a person can spend based on what they earn. A goal is something an individual wants to achieve. Which option makes you feel more motivated to make good decisions?
Wealthy Habits focuses on building a mindset that sets goals and does what it takes to achieve them. Through the Spending Plan activity, students individually decide what is important to them to spend their money on. Some students will select the lowest cost on every purchase, but most students realize that some things are more important to them and spend more of their money on those, instead. Once they have decided what’s important, it’s time to add everything up to see how much their lifestyle will cost them. This is a personal finance class and not math class so students are provided calculators to total up what they need to earn. Once students have their total, they follow directions to see how to calculate both the net and the gross income they need to earn.
This is certainly eye-opening when students realize they need to earn over $20/hour to live their desired lifestyle. Instructors then discuss with the group how to get to the lifestyle goal they calculated.