Personal Finance
Personal finance is an important part of becoming successful. Becoming financially successful is all about living within one's income and investing early. The Personal Finance courses offered will include the Cost of Your First Job, How To Budget, and How To Purchase A Car Correctly. These three courses will provide a sound foundation for any person to develop their own personal financial strategy and plan. Refer to this information anytime in the future. We wish you all the best in becoming Financially Secure.
Cost Of Your First Job
We all go to work to earn money but most do not realize it actually cost money, potentially a lot of money, to go to work the first time. The course looks at costs that are required when starting work such as rent, deposits, clothing, furniture, transportation, insurance, benefits, taxes, and other expenses. The expenses are then compared to the forecasted income to determine if the expenses, or income, are realistic. The bottom line is to be honest and prepared. Visit www.salary.com to find out your estimated income based on desired career and work location. Visit www.apartments.com to find out the cost of housing in your desired work location. Use this worksheet (Excel file) to find out how the salary will work with your expenses or Open Worksheet (Open Document).
Budgeting
Budgeting is a key component to financial success. A budget is simply your plan of how you will use your hard earned money and to make sure you have money to cover all of your financial obligations and needs. Make sure to first save and build your Emergency Funds that will cover unplanned events such as loosing your job. It would be good to have enough money to cover your normal monthly expenses for at least 6 months while you are looking for work. Get into the practice of using a budget. Enter your actual expenses, compare actuals to your budget, make adjustments as needed, and try again the following month. There are many budget forms and many supplied with programs like Excel. This Budget (Excel file) is a good example of a budget. Just modify it to meet your needs and requirements and most importantly, use it. The Open Document version is here - Open Budget.