NGPF Activity Bank

Budgeting #1
Spanish version

ANALYZE: A Salary-Based Budget

Now that you’ve completed your first full budget (activity here), answer each of these reflection questions.

Part I: Net Salary

1. How did you choose your career?
I chose my career based on my interests and the salary.

2. Now that you’ve seen your preliminary budget, reflect on your career choice and the lifestyle you may be able to
live as a result. What might be the benefits or challenges?
a. The challenges of my lifestyle and career would include trying to balance the work between career work
and finance and having enough resources to deal with the issues.

Part II: Savings Strategy

3. How much did you decide to save (in savings and in retirement), and why did you make these choices?

I decided to save at least $50 each month because I thought it was enough for me to save on other things and
be prepared for retirement.

4. After seeing how your final budget turned out, do you think you should be saving more or less than you originally
chose?
I think I should save more than I originally chose because if I do, then the balance will increase, which will then
allow me to spend a little more on other things.

Part III: Spending Habits

5. When you look at your overall spending, which category are you spending the least on? Does this surprise you?
Why or why not?

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 I’m spending the least on transportation. It doesn’t surprise me because originally, my balance was negative
because I was spending my transportation on cars. After that, I replaced my transportation with a train.

6. Which category are you spending the most on? Does this surprise you? Why or why not?
7. What is one category you know you could spend less on? What sacrifices would you have to make if you were to
spend less on this category?
● I’m spending the most on costs of living. It doesn’t surprise me because they are some of the essential
things to live in a home.
● Food is one thing I could have spent less on. I would sacrifice eating out at a restaurant.

8. What is one category you wish you could spend more on? What would need to happen for that to be possible?
● I wish I could spend more on transportation. To make this happen, I need to start spending less and
saving more, then move upon there.

Part IV: Surplus or Deficit

9. In the end, does your budget end with a surplus or a deficit?
My budget ends with a surplus.

10. What decisions did you make about your budget that led to that final outcome?

NOTE: If your budget ended with a deficit (you were spending more than you were taking home each month),
this is not sustainable. You would need to redo your budget until your net income covers all of your monthly
expenses.

I spent less on transportation by replacing my original transportation of driving a car to taking a train.

Part V: Summary
11. Identify two lessons you learned by completing this salary-based budget.
● I learned I need to spend less as much as possible from the beginning as long as I have enough
resources for living and be able to identify challenges and dealing with those things.

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