Using a salary calculator site (glassdoor.com, onetonline.org, etc), find an average salary for your desired profession ( which is Social Worker). Then use a paycheck calculator (e.g., link HERE  (Links to an external site.)for a payroll calculator) to estimate your monthly take home pay. Plan a budget for yourself for a month. Expenses should include rent, utilities, transportation, insurance, meals, entertainment, student loan payments, credit card payments, etc. Outline every expense you are calculating and justify the total allotted for each expense (i.e. average rent in Denver is $1500, if you budget $750 for rent, why? do you have a roommate?). Try to follow the 50-20-30 rule discussed in the video from this learning module.

Knowing that emergencies happen, say you have to take care of a sick family member for 5 working days and haven’t earned paid time off yet. Now do your monthly budget minus one week’s pay. 

• What changed for you when you had to recalculate your budget?
• Does this change the way you feel about your occupation of choice? Why or why not?
• What does it mean to you to give up certain things?
• Beyond paycheck, what other benefits do you want to look for in a job?
• What does it mean to you that your job may not monetarily provide you with everything you need or want? How will you resolve this?
• Do you plan on continuing your education after your Bachelor’s degree? Will that help or hurt your financial situation? Long term/short term?
• Did you see a difference between budgeting for life after graduation versus the way you currently budget?

Papers should be 2 pages double spaced. You may add an additional page outlining your two different budgets.