Spending vs Saving

Spending vs Saving Spending: Pay out (money) in buying or hiring goods or services. Saving: income not spent, or deferred consumption

Essential Questions Copy these essential questions in your journal. You will answer these at the end of the lesson. How does a person decide what to spend their income on? Is saving really that important? Why? What are some methods of saving money?

Background All decisions involve trade-offs gaining something and giving something up. People make decisions about spending and saving. If people save, they incur an opportunity cost the opportunity to satisfy the next most favored want. When people spend, they give up the opportunity to save. In either case, they incur an opportunity cost; and the decision they face is choosing the option with the lower opportunity cost. Over time, savings accumulate into a larger amount. The three reasons for saving are: to purchase a planned good or service in the future; to buy a good or service that people suddenly see and want; and to deal with emergencies and unexpected events. What is an opportunity cost? What are the three reasons to save? What are some reasons to save besides the three? What could happen to a person if they choose to just spend?

Wants and Needs In your journal make a small T-chart and label one side WANTS and one side NEEDS. • Place the following under the correct side of the T-chart. • Movie Ticket • $150 pair of shoes • Groceries • Dinner at Longhorns • Reliable Used Car • Expensive New Car • Clothing • Big screen television • Once you are done in your journal in 1 sentence explain the difference between a want and a need.

Relevant vocabulary • Wants • Needs • Savings Account • Certificate of Deposit • Budget • Expenses • Fixed Expenses • Variable Expenses • Choices • money • opportunity cost • savings account • spending

Spend and Save 1. What is the decision that Penny has to make? 2. Why does Penny want a new vest? 3. What two things does Penny want to spend money for? 4. Why must Penny make a choice between the vest and the new bicycle? 5. Why might Penny give up the vest now to have the bicycle later? 6. How does Penny decide that she can have both a vest now and a bicycle later? 7. What will Penny have to give up to save for a bike later? 8. What does it mean when the story states, "Penny's plans are coming together?“ 9. How does Penny discover that she already has more money than she thought? 10. Why is Penny's mother proud of her? 11. Where do you think Penny should keep her money? Why? 12. What does the bank teller mean when she tells Penny, "Have fun watching your money grow.”

1. (to spend or save) 2. (She wants the new vest to wear with her newfive-pocket jeans.) 3. (a bicycle and a fancy vest) 4. (Shedoesn't have enough money to buy both the vest and the bicycle, or even enough to buy the bicycle now. She only has enough money to buy the vest now.) 5. (She realizes thatmoney saved adds up over time. If she gives up the vest now, she will have more money for the bicycle and be able to buy it sooner.) 6. (She decides to decorate her old denim vest, creating a "new" one. This will help her save money to buy the bicycle later, when she has accumulated enough money.) 7 (the fancy vest heropportunity cost) 8 (Itmeans that Penny is learning to plan for a future purchase. She made a decision that will help her purchase a bicycle by saving her money now.) 9. (She counted the coins in her penny bank and found that she had saved more than sheremembered) 10. (She is proud because Penny made her own decision about the vest and the bicycle.) 11. (answers will vary) 12. (She means that when you save money instead of spending it, it will keep adding up, "growing" in amount.)

Wants vs Needs • Think about what things are necessary for your day-to-day existence. Write a list of them. • Why do you feel these things are necessary? What things do you want? Write them down. • Why do you want these things? Are any of your wants also needs?

Spending and Saving But how do you decide when to spend and when to save? Can you do a little bit of both? • Set goals for your money. Short term and Long term goals. • Expect expenses. • Fixed expenses (What are some examples?) • Unexpected expenses. (What are some examples?)

Rules to Saving Pay yourself first. Skip the “candy isle.” Create a budget. You don’t need to “Keep up with the Joneses.” So what’s the secret????? The secret when it comes to saving money: if you think of it as a regular expense, it'll be easier to put a certain amount aside.

Task You will receive a copy of a budget and a handout. The handout will provide you with information on your income and bills. Complete your budget using the handout. In your Journal answer your three EQ’s. Then in your journal tell how spending and saving are tied to ones income.

Resources • http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/money/managing/print_crossword.html • http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/journal/managingmoney_journal.html • http://searchfiletype.com/Money-Management-The-process-of-budgeting-saving-fs111113.html • http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.php?lid=414&type=educator

Spending vs Saving