As an Ivy Tech student, you are making an investment in your education. This project will look at how that investment will pay off if you graduate and get a job in your desired field. You will be comparing your future finances with someone who is not a college graduate. Assume that the median annual income for a person who is only a high school graduate is $31,750 (although this may not be accurate for Indiana residents). Use this value in comparison statements with proper absolute and relative change statements.

In this project you are required to do the following:

Create an Excel spreadsheet to help calculate the correct values for housing and retirement (this will be a graded part of the project). Ask your instructor if you need to use an Excel template. Refer to the Excel help in the book or notes in your course on how to find mortgage or retirement values. You will use the PV, FV, PMT formulas in Excel.

Your typed responses for this project will consist of answering short-answer questions given below. Each short-answer should be a minimum of 3 sentences and 50 words. Use proper quantitative reasoning and wording to address the solution. This should clearly convey your message to a reader who is not taking Math 123. Make sure to use your spreadsheet to answer what if questions with specific values and provide support for your statements. To do this, make changes in your spreadsheet and analyze the results of the manipulations be quantitative and specific with correct absolute and relative change statements. See the last page of this project description for samples of what poorly written responses and well written responses would look like before you answer the questions below. Your answers to these questions will be typed in and submitted in IvyLearn using the link to Project 1.

HINT: As you are writing your absolute or relative change sentence, make sure to address more than or less than what value. Writing sentences such as, The absolute/relative change is this value will NOT be counted as correct. What is the meaning of an absolute or relative change in each scenario?

Example of a poorly written response:

I think that I could afford a $50,000 car as a college graduate.

This response is not good. While a numerical response is given, the response does not indicate the student used their Excel spreadsheet, indicate what Excel function they used to determine that value, or explain what the values used in the Excel function represent. The response does not meet minimum sentence or word count.

Example of a well written response:

I think that I could afford a $50,000 car as a college graduate. I determined this using Excel and it is based on the monthly gross income I determined earlier in the project and given the loan I obtained for 2.5% over the 5 year period we were directed to use for this part of the project. The Excel formula I used to determine the $50,000 amount was =EXCELfunction(number 1, number 2, number 3) where number 1 represents, number 2 represents, and number 3 represents

Student provided a numerical value, provided the exact Excel function they used along with a detailed description of what each of the number values used in the Excel function represents. The response meets both the minimum sentence and word count.

Question.

5. Your Math 123 instructor is having a mid-life crisis and feels the need to splurge on a used 1989 Ferrari 328 GTS Coupe (cost: $115,900). If they can get a loan to purchase it at 4.25% for 6 years, what would the fixed monthly payment be? Do you think it would be reasonable for them to purchase if they make $48,750 a year (and have no other money in a savings account)?