Personal Financial Analysis - Monthly Budget

ASSIGNMENT 3 SCENARIO
After creating your financial plan, you decide to create monthly budgets to track your spending and monitor your progress toward your savings goal. In planning out your budgets for the first 3 months, you document some extra income you’ll earn during Months 2 and 3. You also know you have a medical bill to pay during Month 2 and a school-related fee to pay during Month 3. You plan for those expenses in your monthly budgets.
After completing your budgets, you show them to a friend who’s studying to become a financial advisor. Your friend is excited that you’re pursuing your financial goals and suggests that you consider using your technology skill to create charts and graphs to visualize the information. This will help you better understand your spending and track your progress toward meeting your goals.
1.locate and open the spreadsheet you created for Assignment 2 Maples_ECO110_A2.” Once you have both spreadsheets open, begin filling in the Assignment 3 spreadsheet by identifying your financial goal and time frame located in the drop-down menus in cells B6 and B7. Remember, these should be the same goal and time frame you selected for Assignment 2.
2. CALCULATE MONTHLY INCOME AND EXPENSES
3. BALANCE YOUR BUDGETS
4. ANALYZE YOUR PROGRESS Once your three monthly budgets are balanced with no surplus or deficit, you’ll be ready to take a look at the progress you’ve made toward your savings goal.
5. USE CHARTS TO ANALYZE SPENDING AND PROGRESS
6. Describe the charts you included and explain how well they helped you understand your budgets and progress toward your financial goal. Be sure to include reasons for selecting each of the charts you used. (Your response should be 3–5 sentences.)
7. Explain the reasons for any adjustments you made to the monthly budgets due to the extra income and expenses in Months 2 and 3. Also describe the progress you made toward your savings goal, and explain any changes you are thinking about making to your future spending based on the analysis of your expenses and savings. (Your response should be 4–6 sentences.)
8. Explain how economic trends such as inflation, changes in housing prices, changes in interest rates, or demand for labor (or unemployment) could impact your income and spending in the coming year. Be sure to provide details on which budget line items will be impacted by one or more of these trends and how progress toward your financial goal could be affected. (Your response should be 3–5 sentences.)
9. Reflect on how completing this assignment will help your own budgeting and financial analysis, specifically planning for unexpected expenses. (Your response should be 1–3 sentences.)