3 - Post-Class 1 Assignment Draft
3 - Post-Class 1 Assignment Draft
In this section, you will pick one of two options and complete the corresponding activity.
Option 1 – for those who have good records on spending over the past month
(bank & credit card statements)
Option 2 – for those who do not have good records of spending over the past
month.
Option 1 – for those who have good records on spending over the past month (bank &
credit card statements)
Let’s get to auditing! Get out any and all of your bank/credit card statements, and select a time period
over which your statements cover that is at least 1 month.
In the space below, explain what statements you will use in performing this audit (you do not need to
give specifics – for example, one might say: I use my credit card and debit card for specific expenses, I
will use both to perform my audit).
I use my income and debit card for fixed expenses and credit card for food cravings
Then, for which dates will you account for: (enter date range here, 30-31 days)
Class Name
Financial Goal Setting & Personal Budgeting
Now, go through each expense, and complete the following chart. Add/delete rows and customize as it
makes sense for you. You will want to account for every dollar coming in (income) and every dollar
going out (expense).
Notes:
If you prefer to use an Excel sheet or hand write your expenses, delete the table below and copy
and paste a screenshot of your Excel sheet or a picture of your handwritten tracking here.
If there is an expense or income you do not want to disclose, feel free to block it out on your
submission, retaining the details for your own records only.
Date Item/Category Amount Varied Want or Need Notes
3/2/2024 Rent 481.89 Need
3/2/2024 Utlities 41.23 Need
3/2/2024 Electricity 50.01 Need
9/2/2024 Laundry 3.50 Need
15/2/2023 Food 18.95 Want
19/2/2024 Laundry 3.50 Need
20/2/2024 Groceries 10.09 Need
29/2/2024 Laundry 3.50 Need
What category or categories did you spend the most on over the time period audited?
College of Business
Center for Advancing Financial Education (CAFE)
business.oregonstate.edu/CAFE | 2
Class Name
Financial Goal Setting & Personal Budgeting
Did you spend more or less money than you had coming in?
If more, why do you think that is and is there anything you can do different moving forward?
If less, what would you like to do with the unspent funds?
In looking at your results, what habits can you identify that you have surrounding your money?
Which of these habits, if any, align well with your financial goals?
Which of these habits, if any, do not align well with your financial goals?
I have a money saving habit, and it aligns well with my financial goal
Do you believe this month’s audit gives you an accurate picture of your cashflow (money coming in and
going out); why or why not?
Yes, it helps me why I am having those numbers in my bank account right now
What are your tracking and audit plans moving forward? Outline steps you will take to make this
happen.
Option 2 – for those who do not have good records of spending over the past month.
Let’s get to tracking! You have to start somewhere, so let’s get set up. In this section, you will create a
tracking plan that covers one month of time, starting today. During this, you will track every dollar
coming in (income) and every dollar going out (expenses).
College of Business
Center for Advancing Financial Education (CAFE)
business.oregonstate.edu/CAFE | 3
Class Name
Financial Goal Setting & Personal Budgeting
By setting up an account with a tracking tool, your transactions throughout the term will be tracked,
and you’ll be able to use this information to check the accuracy of the budget you create. If you haven’t
been tracking your expenses before you put numbers into your budget, chances are you’ll be off in a
few areas. But not to worry – that’s why we constantly evaluate our budget and our spending, and
adjust as needed.
1. Review the following list of tracking tools. Note that some of the tools are dual purpose in that they
track expenses AND budget. In Step 2 of this assignment, you will choose a template to set up your
budget. One option you have is to do it all through your tracking tool if you pick one that allows it.
Many financial institutions offer some form of online mobile banking apps or services.
Using these tools that your bank provides is a great way to track expenditures you make
with your debit and/or credit cards. These apps offer a wide variety of budgeting and
tracking tools, based on your financial institution. Check out your financial institution’s
website to see what options they provide.
o Good Budget: https://goodbudget.com/
“Good Budget” is free and offers a very simple user interface. This app offers an “old
school” approach to saving money and allows you to divvy up your money in a wide
variety of categories. This app is a wonderful introduction into the basics of budgeting
and allows you to enter expenses as you go.
o HomeBudget: http://www.anishu.com/
“Pocketsmith” is a great app for the analytical budgeter. It allows you to thoroughly
College of Business
Center for Advancing Financial Education (CAFE)
business.oregonstate.edu/CAFE | 4
Class Name
Financial Goal Setting & Personal Budgeting
understand your cash flow by allowing you to input your financial data and track what
you spend. It presents the data to you in a wide variety of graphs.
o Personal Capital: https://www.personalcapital.com/
“Personal Capital” is great and useful tool for planning for the long run. It allows you to
track your 401K’s and see your net worth. This app has a very easy to use interface;
however, it does cost money to use.
o Excel: https://products.office.com/en-us/excel
Excel is the most basic financial planning tracking and budgeting tool on the market. The
only cost with using Excel or similar spreadsheet software is the starting cost of
purchasing the software. Using Excel means that you will need to enter everything in to
your spreadsheets manually and create different sheets based on your budgets and what
graphs you want to have presented to you.
o Other: If there are other tracking/budgeting applications that you are curious about, take
this opportunity to explore them! There are so many products and options out there, it is a
matter of finding the one that resonates with you. Here are some recommendations from
Investopedia, the balance and Nerd Wallet. In addition, you could use CAFE’s Tracking
word document.
Choose two tools from the above list (or other tools you have heard of) to explore in more depth.
Write a brief (100-150 words each) synopsis of each of the two tracking tools you chose, including
the strengths and weaknesses of each tool.
Financial Tracking
Brief Synopsis of Tool – (100 to 150)
Tool
1) Chase banking Overview – It is a banking app that also provides feature to track
app spending
College of Business
Center for Advancing Financial Education (CAFE)
business.oregonstate.edu/CAFE | 5
Class Name
Financial Goal Setting & Personal Budgeting
2. Based on your synopsis and review of the strengths and weaknesses of each tool, pick one of the
two to track your finances for the month-long period. What online, paper, or mobile tracking tool
did you pick? Explain your anticipated approach to tracking using the tool(s).
I pick excel sheet because, although it is time consuming, it helps me confront my payments an
understand my expenses
To receive credit for this portion of the assignment, copy and paste a screenshot of your confirmation/welcome
email from the tracking tool below. If you do not receive a confirmation/welcome email, please submit a screenshot
of your home screen on the tracking tool. If you did not set-up a tool, take a screenshot of your Excel spreadsheet or
other document of choice so we know you are getting it started! Be sure to block out any personal information
that you do not wish the TAs or Instructors to see .
College of Business
Center for Advancing Financial Education (CAFE)
business.oregonstate.edu/CAFE | 6
Class Name
Financial Goal Setting & Personal Budgeting
A budget is a plan and plans change, that is normal! As life unfolds, you can come back to your budget –
your plan – and adjust. With time, you will see how much a budget can benefit you.
FINANCIAL GOALS
College of Business
Center for Advancing Financial Education (CAFE)
business.oregonstate.edu/CAFE | 7
Class Name
Financial Goal Setting & Personal Budgeting
A financial goal is a specific objective that is accomplished by planning and managing your finances. Often there
are specific long-, intermediate-, and short-term goals to be attained through your money management efforts.
These goals should be consistent with your values and have the potential to help you create the life you want to
live. You want to take time and make your goals specific, measurable, ensure they are attainable and relevant,
and time-bound; these are called SMART goals. It is not enough to say, “I want to grow my savings.” Instead, ask
yourself: by how much? By when? Is it attainable and realistic? Your goal might be - “I plan to grow my savings to
$500 in one year from today by setting aside $41 each month, automatically taking it from my checking to my
savings account.”
Short-term: What’s one financial goal you want to complete over the next year? Be sure to make it a SMART
goal:
Specific Save up for post-graduation job searching period, if I don’t secure a job
Measurable Should be enough for 6-month expenses
Attainable I can achieve it by saving a portion every month
Relevant I need this so as to not to burden my family back home
Time-bound I am only doing this until I get a job
How does your goal To make sure that I am not burdening my family back home
motivate you?
What problems do you Nothing at the moment, as saving up is quite important for me
anticipate having if you
focus solely on the
overarching goal?
College of Business
Center for Advancing Financial Education (CAFE)
business.oregonstate.edu/CAFE | 8
Class Name
Financial Goal Setting & Personal Budgeting
Intermediate-term: What’s one financial goal you want to complete in 2-5 years?
Be sure to make it a SMART goal:
Long-term: What’s one financial goal you want to complete within 5+ years?
Be sure to make it a SMART goal:
Specific Help me sister for her studies, buy a house for my mom
Measurable It will probably take 600,000 or more
Attainable It is attainable, but in long term
Relevant My family’s happiness is important to me
Time-bound A very long-term goal
How does your goal The thought to be able to give back to my family and make them happy
motivate you?
What problems do you Nothing, I need to work harder
anticipate having if you
focus solely on the
overarching goal?
In this week’s lecture, we looked at the differences between setting goals and establishing systems to help us
reach those goals (essentially, developing good habits). Use the Psychology Today Article on Habit Formation
and information from lecture to inform your answers within this section.
College of Business
Center for Advancing Financial Education (CAFE)
business.oregonstate.edu/CAFE | 9
Class Name
Financial Goal Setting & Personal Budgeting
Thinking about your short-term goal (from above), what systems do you need in place to help you reach
your goal (i.e. what habits do you need to create)?
I am pretty systematic for now, but if possible I want to curb all my food cravings and stop ordering food
from outside
Select 2 components of the system (habits) from your list above, and consider how you can realistically
incorporate those into your daily life. Remember the tips from lecture on how to create good habits
(start small, stack your habits, align your environment, and plan for failure) and incorporate them as
appropriate.
Components of System
(Desired Habits) Plan to Incorporate the Habit into Your Life
*Select 2 from above
Finally, consider any bad financial habits you currently fall into. Fill in the table below, again utilizing
information from lecture as context.
In looking at the table above, what new habit do you think you can implement instead that would satisfy that
same craving or desire (but be better for you financially)? How might you incorporate it into your life?
Maybe cook food myself, but I cant cuz I am very bad at it
College of Business
Center for Advancing Financial Education (CAFE)
business.oregonstate.edu/CAFE | 10
Class Name
Financial Goal Setting & Personal Budgeting
Values are fundamental beliefs about what you find to be important, desirable, and worthwhile; it’s
what you believe in! They motivate us and shape us; they serve as a basis for our goals and life design.
Values change over time, taking time to reflect on what is important to you during various points of
your life will help you decide what your priorities should be. This awareness can help you as you create
plans for your time and money. Read this Clever Girl Finance article about values and do additional
reflection/research as needed.
Then, list three of your values that guide you the most in your finances right now. For each, explain
how this value connects to how you manage your money.
Value How Value Relates to Your Money Management
1. Reflect in beliefs I mostly spend according to my money beliefs- avoid unnecessary
2. Outline Financial I have outlined all my financial goals – long term and short term
Goals
3. Priorities I have my priorities set right
College of Business
Center for Advancing Financial Education (CAFE)
business.oregonstate.edu/CAFE | 11
Class Name
Financial Goal Setting & Personal Budgeting
Zero-Based
Budgeting All the money should be given a purpose and nothing should be left
behind. No money is left for unnecessary expense, but budgeting
https://beav.es/T6U portions can be inconsistent
Pay Yourself First A better way to start for the future and then think about present. Saving
first and then don’t think about it, but is not suitable for someone
https://beav.es/T6w having hard time meeting ends
Envelope System
Putting cash into envelops for not fixed spending. Helps curb
unnecessary spending however hard to track expenses
https://beav.es/T6i
TOOLS | There are so many ways to create your budget! You can use Excel, handwrite it, look into your
bank or credit union app., explore your credit card company’s app., or use one of the various apps for
budgeting. Do a little research on different ways to create your budget, and explain what you would
like to do in the space below.
Explore these different links and options (feel free to do additional research as well):
o Nerdwallet | https://beav.es/T6S
o Investopedia | https://beav.es/T65
o Consumer.gov | https://beav.es/qHp
o CAFE Resources | https://beav.es/Two
In the space below, explain the tool(s) and method(s) you will use to create and manage your
budget; explain why you have selected the tool or combination of tools.
An example could be: I will use my bank and credit card apps. to check on my spending weekly and update
actual numbers in varied categories, but I will create my monthly budget in Excel; I will have a tab for
each month. I will employ the pay myself first method, and treat savings as an immediate expense. I will
use the envelope method each week for my entertainment funds category.
I will use CAFÉ worksheet – I feel it to be useful and easier to use when auditing my expenses
College of Business
Center for Advancing Financial Education (CAFE)
business.oregonstate.edu/CAFE | 12
Class Name
Financial Goal Setting & Personal Budgeting
You’ve done some great work leading up to this activity. You reflected on what you want out of life,
explained your values, set some financial goals, and identified habits to support the goals. You have
thought through a timeframe and your budgeting method and tools.
So, why develop a budget? As you get older, often your financial needs and wants become more
complex. Large purchases such as a car, college degree, or a house cannot be made spontaneously for
many of us. Checking in on your budget helps you track your spending and helps you to ensure you are
living within your means. Overall, a budget provides you a plan so you can attain your goals. At the core
of a budget is the equation: Income – Expenses = Surplus (or living within your means, your goal)
or Shortfall (or living outside of your means). When creating a budget, you will list out your
anticipated income (money coming in) for that time period, or a starting balance of funds and expenses
(money going out). Then, you deduct your expenses from your income with the goal of having enough
income to cover all your expenses, living within your means. If not, you at can identify the issue and
make a plan to improve your situation.
In your budget, you could include the following categories (feel free to label and organize how you see
fit) – remember, let this budget reflect you and your life. It might seem like a small detail, but the
organization of your budget matters – you want it to be something that works for you. Consider
categories for your expenses such as “Entertainment” and you define what it includes, or “Housing” and
perhaps you include things like rent/mortgage, utilities, maintenance, etc. So, do a little research on
budgeting categories as needed. If you do not have a lot of budgeting categories, that is a-ok – practice
with what you do spend your money on. These habits will shape your future as your finances become
more complex.
Note: If you are totally financially dependent on someone else, that is great! You will count their support
as your income. If you already have a budget, then make some adjustments as needed and this section
should be easy for you!
College of Business
Center for Advancing Financial Education (CAFE)
business.oregonstate.edu/CAFE | 13
Class Name
Financial Goal Setting & Personal Budgeting
To receive credit for this portion of the assignment, submit screenshots of your completed budget below.
Insert Screen Shots below - *Block out any information you are not comfortable sharing.
College of Business
Center for Advancing Financial Education (CAFE)
business.oregonstate.edu/CAFE | 14
Class Name
Financial Goal Setting & Personal Budgeting
When you look at your anticipated expenses and income from your budget above (Income – Expenses),
will you have more money coming in (income) than going out (expenses)?
My tuition and fee are paid out using my loan so there is no way for me to track that expense. However
as for my monthly income less expense, I see more money coming in
If you have more money coming in than going out, you are living within your means which is where you
want to be. If that is the case for you, what could you do with any extra money you have? If you have
less money coming in than going out, you are living outside of your means which is great to know as
you can make some plans to improve this. If this is the case for you, what are some expenses you will
look at lowering? And/or, what are some ways you might increase your income? Both lectures gave
you some ideas for this, so refer to those if/as needed for some ideas.
I am currently saving up my extra money, when possible I want to start a RothIRA account
In what ways does your budget reflect your goals, positive habits, and values? Be specific for each in
the space below.
What will your overall strategy be for managing, checking-in on, and updating /adjusting your budget and
tracking through the timeframe of the budget created?
I will update my spreadsheet bi-monthly as I earn and pay my bills and make purchases
What challenges do you anticipate in budgeting and tracking? For each challenge, what is something you can do
to avoid the issue or mitigate it?
It can be time consuming, which can lead me to procrastinate it – however seeing positive numbers in my
savings motivates me to work on it
College of Business
Center for Advancing Financial Education (CAFE)
business.oregonstate.edu/CAFE | 15
Class Name
Financial Goal Setting & Personal Budgeting
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Financial Books: The list below outlines some of the top financial books for college students:
“Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together” by Erin Lowry
“I Will Teach You To Be Rich” by Ramit Sethi
“Bad with Money: The Imperfect Art of Getting Your Financial Sh*t Together” by Gaby Dunn
“Your Money Life: Your 20s” by Peter Dunn
“Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving
Financial Independence” by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez
“Financial Freedom: A Proven Path to All the Money You Will Ever Need” by Grant Sabatier
“The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy” by Thomas Stanley and
William Danko
“You Only Live Once: The Roadmap to Financial Wellness and a Purposeful Life” by Jason Vitug
Podcasts/Blogs: The list below outlines some of the top financial blogs and podcasts. Here are some
additional things to look at and possible find other options:
Investopedia’s list
US News’ list
Forbe’s list
Top Financial Blogs Top Financial Podcasts
Suzie Orman: suzeorman.com/blog/ How to money:
howtomoney.com/category/episodes/
Money Under 30: moneyunder30.com/ The Dave Ramsey Show:
ramseysolutions.com/shows
Young Finances: youngfinances.com/blog/ NPR’s Planet Money: npr.org/sections/money/
College of Business
Center for Advancing Financial Education (CAFE)
business.oregonstate.edu/CAFE | 16
Class Name
Financial Goal Setting & Personal Budgeting
College of Business
Center for Advancing Financial Education (CAFE)
business.oregonstate.edu/CAFE | 17