This project is designed to teach you how to use a cash budget to plan for the future using a spreadsheet.

You will need to obtain the following information:

1. You will need to obtain data about the starting salary you would earn. For purposes of this problem, you are to assume that you graduate at the end of this school year and that you will be starting a job in May of 2023. To ensure that you have a realistic number you will be required to have supporting data for your starting salary in June. This may be found online or as a hard copy.

2. You should get some data on food costs. Describe how you arrived at your estimate and/or show any supporting data.

3. You need transportation to get back and forth between your job and your apartment. Your documentation for the amount of transportation expense must be a schedule of fares if you are using public transportation. If you are taking an automobile back and forth, your automobile cost should be based on the leasing cost of the vehicle you plan to use. If you are not using public transportation, you need to factor (and disclose) any additional costs associated with your transportation. You should obtain documentation for much of this and list these individual items separately.

4. You will need to live someplace, other than at your parents when you start your job. You can choose to rent an apartment as an individual or share an apartment with others. You will need to have documentation from the area you plan to live in to support your apartment rental expense number. You should include twice the rent amount during the first month since you need to leave a security deposit (you will be reimbursed this amount at the end of the lease assuming no damage to the apartment).

5. There will be deductions for federal and state income taxes (if applicable), and FICA, and you will probably spend some of your paychecks on medical coverage. Assume that FICA will be 7.65 % of your gross pay. Most employers pay some but not all of these insurance costs and you should have some idea of what you will need to pay. You do not have the option of declining medical insurance costs for purposes of this budgeting problem.

6. Your revenue schedule for the take-home budget problem will detail the following

for each of the twelve months that are being budgeted for, as well as a yearly total

12 month

May 2023 June 2023 etc. Total

Monthly Gross Salary

Less: FICA (see 5)

Federal Taxes*

State Taxes

Monthly insurance co-pay (see 5)

Net Take-Home Pay

*For Federal Taxes you should assume the following tax rates for your salary

Taxable Income Brackets and Rates (Estimate)
Rate	Single Filers	Married Joint Filers
10%	$0 to $9,875	$0 to $19,750
12%	$9,876 to $40,125	$19,751 to $80,250
22%	$40,126 to $85,525	$80,251 to $171,050
24%	$85,526 to $163,300	$171,051 to $326,600
32%	$163,301 to $207,350	$326,601 to $414,700
35%	$207,351 to $418,400	$414,701 to $622,050
37%	$518,401+	$622,051+

To get your Federal Taxes to multiply your monthly gross pay by the appropriate rate for your annual salary range that is detailed above.

7. Your expense schedule will detail the following for each of the twelve months that are being budgeted for.

12 month

May 2023 June 2023 etc. Total

Food (see 2)

Transportation (see 3)

Apartment Rent (see 4)

Credit Card interest if applicable (see 11)

List all other expenses in detail

Total Expenses 

Avoid using “misc. expense” or “other”. Do not forget a 12-month total! You will want to know the overall costs of each expense for the year.

8. The calculation of net cash change is: Net Take Home Pay minus Total Expenses

9. The net cash change will be used to increase or decrease your cash balance. Any positive cash has to be used to pay off credit card balances before increasing your cash balance. The bottom of your budget should resemble the Cash Budget in chapter 21.

12 month

May 2023 June 2023 etc. Total

Cash increase (decrease)

Cash Balance Beginning of Month

Cash Balance End of Month

10. The good news is that when you graduated you got money gifts from relatives amounting to $5,500. Your starting cash on hand is $5,500.

11. At the end of each month, you need to keep track of your cash position. For purposes of this project, the rate of interest you have to pay on any credit card balance is 18% a year or 1 ½ % a month. This will be calculated by taking your credit card balance at the end of the previous month and multiplying it by 1 ½ %. Please disregard this if you are able to pay your credit card bills on time.