REAL

WORLD

FINANCES

 

How much money will you earn ?

How much money will you spend ?

 

A WebQuest by Jenny Simpson

 

Introduction

 

Most high school students have thought about life after they graduate, but have you ever really thought about how you will make money, how much of it you will make and how much you will really be able to spend after you "pay the bills?"

During this activity you will be gathering information on the internet in order to develop an understanding of how much money you will earn and spend as an adult. You will answer questions such as:

 

 

 

The Task

 

You will be searching the internet for career, tax, mortgage and auto loan information (Click here to see the Process/Learning Advice provided for you in this WebQuest) . After you have finished all of your internet research, you will be asked to summarize your findings. Be sure to include your detailed responses to the questions that are posed in the introduction above.

 

 

 

Resources

 

The Outlook for Specific Occupations and the Alphabetical List of Occupations from the Occupational Outlook Handbook 1996-1997 (courtesy of the Libraries of the University of Missouri - St. Louis) offer a large amount of information about careers in the United States including nature of work, working conditions, employment information, training, qualifications and opportunities for advancement. The job outlook and earnings sections will probably be the most helpful for you this particular activity.

The 1997 Tax Tables published by the Internal Revenue Service provide the most recent tax figures according to taxable income. Click on the "Home" icon while visiting this site to find out more about the IRS and personal and business taxes.

The Homebuyer's Fair Mortgage Loan Qualifier from American Finance's Homebuyer's Fair website is an easy-to use calculation page where you can enter income, savings, and debt information in order to "calculate" the amount of a home loan for which you can qualify.

The Auto Loan Calculator from BankSitetm enables you to calculate the approximate monthly payment for the vehicle you wants to buy.

Having trouble balancing your budget in this activity or in your own life? The Cut Your Expenses page from the "Credit Talk" website by Mastercard offers some tips on how to avoid spending more than you can afford.

 

 

 

The Process / Learning Advice

 

You will need to take notes as you go through the process of this WebQuest. You will be retrieving information from various websites, making career decisions and occasionally doing calculations with the financial data you collect. The more you write down as you go through this process, the easier it will be for you to develop a detailed summary of your findings.

Remember, sometimes the internet can get very busy. Occasionally, you will have to wait for several moments while your computer connects to the desired website. Be patient, if your browser icon (located in the upper right-hand corner) is still animated, your computer is still trying to connec t to the desired web page. If this process takes longer than a minute or so, you may want to go on to a different step in the process and return to the unfinished step later.

 

Click HERE to go back to The Task section.

 

These are the steps you should follow in the "Real World Finances" Web Quest:

 

 

1. Decide on a career which you may pursue after high school or college.

 

2. Go through the information on one of the Occupational Outlook pages and search for an estimate of your yearly income in this career field.

 

3. Go to the IRS Tax Tables page to find out how much of your income will need to go towards your annual income tax payments.

 

4. Calculate your yearly "after tax" income using the information you found in step number 3.

 

5. Calculate your average monthly income according to the yearly "after tax" income you found in step number 4.

 

6. Figure out the maximum home loan amount for which you will qualify and the monthly mortgage payments for that loan amount. Before going to the Mortgage Qualification Calculator, you will need to be sure you have the following information written down:

The Mortgage Qualification Calculator page has many helpful instructions listed underneath the calculator section. Scroll down while viewing the calculator to read these directions if you are unclear about the procedures to follow in calculating the mortgage amount.

 

7. Calculate the approximate monthly payment on the vehicle that you want. Before you go to the Auto Loan Calculator, be sure you have the following information written down:

 

8. Calculate your monthly disposable income using the information from the steps above.

 

 

 

 

Evaluation

 

You will be graded according to the quality of your written summary.

Click here to view the grading rubric/criteria for your written summary.

 

 

 

Conclusion

 

So, how will life as an adult be for you? What career plans do you have? If you pursue the career of your choice, will you be able to live where you want? Will you be able to drive the car that you want? How much money will you have left to pay the bills? And, once the bills are payed, how much money will you have to spend on leisure activities and items of value to you?

I hope that you have learned a lot about real world finances by doing this WebQuest. Figuring out how to balance your budget as an adult can be a long, tedious process. Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of the important attributes of your career of choice and the monetary values of those "big ticket" items on which adults spend a large portion of their money.

Good luck on your work towards the attainment of the career, house and car of your dreams!