1. Choose a profession that you would realistically like to have in the future.

CAREER: ____________________________________

1. Look up the average hourly wage for this career in Canada at the following webpage: (scroll down to Nova Scotia, and choose the median (middle) hourly wage for Halifax for that career)

http://www.jobbank.gc.ca/wage-outlook_search-eng.do?reportOption=wage

HOURLY WAGE: _________________________

Estimate your gross annual income by multiplying your hourly wage by 2000

GROSS ANNUAL INCOME:_____________________________

2. Go to the following website to calculate your monthly income

http://www.ees-financial.com/calculators/TakeHomePayCalculator.htm

Fill in your gross annual income under “enter earned income”

Choose Nova Scotia

MONTHLY INCOME: __________________________________

3. You have a job. Now you need a place to live. The likelihood is that you will rent for a few years before you buy your first home. Please use Kijiji or local advertisements to find an apartment in an area you like that you would like to rent. Make sure to include a print out of the ad in your assignment

COST PER MONTH FOR RENT: __________________________

WHAT IS INCLUDED IN YOUR RENT: __________________________

INCLUDE A PICTURE OF THE AD FOR THE APARTMENT

STUDENT LOANS: If your job required 2 years community college estimate $75 a month for student loans. If your job required 4 years university estimate $300 a month for student loans. If your job required 6+ years university estimate $600 a month for student loans.

4. Now you have to consider your living expenses

Estimate about $150 a month for power

Estimate $600 a month for groceries (this includes household items like shampoo, laundry, etc)

CELL PHONE COST: __________________ (attach a picture of either your current bill or a quote online from a cell phone company for the package you would like)

CABLE AND INTERNET: ____________________ (choose a provider, look up the rates and choose which package you would like. Make sure to choose the price that it will be after the promotion period. For example you might get a deal for 3 months and then the price goes up, the price you are recording is the higher price you will have to pay after the deal)

WHERE IS YOUR APARTMENT: ____________________________________

WHERE IS YOUR PLACE OF WORK:___________________________________

DISTANCE BETWEEN APARTMENT AND WORK(in km):_____________________

WILL YOU WALK, TAKE A BUS OR DRIVE A CAR TO GET TO WORK: ________

(if you choose to walk the distance needs to be reasonable. If you choose to take the bus you need to check to make sure the bus goes near those locations)

TRANSPORTATION COST: _________________________

(if taking the bus look up the monthly cost of a bus pass, if buying a car choose which car you would like to buy and go to that company’s Canadian website and do a “build and price” to figure out the monthly price of the vehicle, you can choose how many months you want to pay it off over, include a print out of the build and price in your assignment)

GAS COST (if driving a car): _______________(multiply the distance(in km) between your apartment and place of work by 5 to estimate the cost of gas for the month.)

INSURANCE: $115 a month if you got a car, if you did not get a car then $15 a month for rental insurance

PETS: if you want to own a dog estimate $40 a month per small dog and $65 dollars a month per larger dog for food and other expenses. If you want to own a cat estimate $25 dollars a month

ENTERTAINMENT COSTS:

Estimate the amount of money you will spend each month on the following things:

MOVIES:_____________________

CLOTHING:_________________

MORNING COFFEE:____________________

HAIR CUTS:______________________

GYM:_____________________

SPORTS:______________________

BOOKS/MAGAZINES:_______________________

TOBACCO:____________________

ALCOHOL:____________________

EATING OUT:_________________________

GIFTS:________________________ (think about how much you spend on Christmas and birthdays over the year and divide it by 12)

List which of your expenses are fixed and which are variable:

FIXED: VARIABLE:

ADD UP ALL OF YOUR MONTHLY EXPENSES:_________________________

(double check that you added it correctly)

MONTHLY INCOME MINUS MONTHLY EXPENSES:_______________

Is your budget balanced, surplus or deficit?

If you had a deficit, what could you change?

If you had a surplus, how much extra do you have each month?

What could you change so you had even more extra?