Exhibit: Buying a Car & H&R Block Challenge

Benchmark: Academic

Skill: Mathematics

 

                Throughout my years being in high school, I have taken math classes such as Geometry and Algebra. As a senior I am currently taking a Consumer’s Mathematics class. Consumer’s math trains students in mathematical applications used in everyday situations. This class emphasizes critical thinking to solve everyday problems of which we will face as young adults. Building financial stability is a main goal of this class, it allows you to develop budgeting skills, knowing what you can afford on your income and we also learn about other financial aspects of life such as mortgaging a house, paying car and student loans, and also calculating utility costs. I am able to have experience in this from being involved in the H&R Block Challenge. I have a good understanding of basic living cost that also include transportation. has prepared me for the "real world" problems like buying a car,

                Being able to budget your spending according to your income is a skill that will allow you to succeed in life. More than 40 million Americans cannot afford their homes. Everyone wants to have nice, fancy new things but not everyone can afford this standard of living. When a family lives outside of their means often they cannot support these extravagant costs. Being able to live within your means and budget your expenses correctly according to your household income in a very important aspect of living a debt-free life. Learning these techniques as a high school student is very important. As you graduate you move out, own a car, possibly own or rent an apartment or house or you live in dorms. It is important to know how to budget your cost because when you’re the person paying for the electricity and warm water to take a shower every day, your priorities change from buying tickets for the movies and buying clothes to paying to just have a roof over your head.

                In our class we are required for a grade to participate in the H&R Block Budget Challenge. This challenge calculates your income, utility costs, student loan costs, auto insurance costs, credit card costs and other expenses of living. This challenge is an important exercise because as young adults we need to be able to successfully budget our money in order prepare for our future. Being a young adult in college budgeting my money will be especially important for me because become a dentist is not a cheap educational choice. Four years of dental school at the University of Detroit Mercy cost on average $375,000. In my career this will be beneficial to me to have knowledge with my money so I am able to pay back student loans and other costs and still be able to save for retirement.

                Along with the Budget Challenge, we still have normal assignments that focus on applying these budgeting abilities to be able to calculate things such as utility cost and reading meters, and calculating units used of gas and electricity. This particular assignment is important because in the real world, not many people sit down and calculate these measurements simply because they think it is a waste of time and they’ll just receive their bill and pay it at the end of the month or they simply do not know how to. This is a problem because being able to calculate your usage of your utilities allows you to anticipate your bill so you can be able to budget money according to your usage. This work will help me as a young adult in college because I already have acknowledged that I am going to be living on a tight budget and I need to be frugal in my expenses and being able to anticipate costs will give me time to budget bills. In my career, being able to budget money will always be important because even though I will be making six figures, the more money you save the more money you have. I also have plans to possibly one day own my own practice so having a good financial background will allow me budget office expenses. Being smart with money is an important way to keep it in your pocket, where it belongs.