Step One: Imagine that you've graduated from college and have established a career. You've been working with the same company for three years. You've saved up $10,000 and need to decide how you'll save and invest this money. Your goal is to save as much money in five years as you can for a down payment on a house. Using the principles and strategies of saving and investing, make a saving and investing plan. Remember, a saving and investing plan is an outline or list that names the types of savings or investments you'll use. The outline also shows the amount or percentage you'll put into each savings account or investment. For this project, evaluate and select at least three investments or savings accounts. Upload the document.

Step Two: Select specific accounts and investments. For example, if your outline includes investing $1,000 in stock, research and select a stock. Make a portfolio with a spreadsheet or word processor.

See the example below:

Saving or Investment Value at Start Current Value Increase or Decrease

Savings Account at Money Bank 1,000 1,000.25 .25

ABC Growth Mutual Fund 2,000 2,010 10

Stock ABC 1,000 980 -20

1. Did your overall portfolio increase or decrease in value? Which investments or accounts increased and which decreased? By how much?

2. What did you learn about investing from this project? Did you learn about how much risk you like to take? Did you learn about how much work is involved in selecting investments? Explain.