Suppose you are looking at a job that would make
you a salaried employee paid weekly. You know
that your essential costs are $2,591/mo. Using the
50-30-20 budget, answer the questions below.

What is the minimum you should make on
each paycheck to cover these costs?
How much would you be putting aside for
your financial goals?
How much would you be able to use for
lifestyle costs (discretionary)?
Be sure to show your work.



Answer :

Of course! Let's solve this step-by-step using the 50-30-20 budget rule, which allocates 50% of your income to essential needs, 30% to wants, and 20% to savings.

### Step 1: Convert Monthly Essential Costs to Weekly Costs
First, we need to convert the monthly essential costs into weekly costs because the employee is paid weekly.

Given:
- Monthly essential costs = [tex]$2,591 To convert monthly costs to weekly costs: - Weeks in a month ≈ 4 (since a month approximately contains 4 weeks) \[ \text{Weekly essential costs} = \frac{\text{Monthly essential costs}}{4} \] \[ \text{Weekly essential costs} = \frac{2591}{4} = 647.75 \] ### Step 2: Determine the Minimum Paycheck Needed to Cover Essential Costs The 50-30-20 budget rule states that 50% of your income should go towards essential needs. To find the minimum paycheck required to cover these essential costs, we need to calculate: \[ \text{Essential costs percentage} = 50\% = 0.50 \] Since $[/tex]647.75 represents the 50% portion of the paycheck:
[tex]\[ \text{Minimum paycheck} = \frac{\text{Weekly essential costs}}{\text{Essential costs percentage}} \][/tex]

[tex]\[ \text{Minimum paycheck} = \frac{647.75}{0.50} = 1295.5 \][/tex]

### Step 3: Calculate the Amount to Put Aside for Financial Goals (Savings)
Next, we calculate how much should be put aside for financial goals, which is 20% of the paycheck.

[tex]\[ \text{Savings percentage} = 20\% = 0.20 \][/tex]

[tex]\[ \text{Financial goals savings} = \text{Minimum paycheck} \times \text{Savings percentage} \][/tex]

[tex]\[ \text{Financial goals savings} = 1295.5 \times 0.20 = 259.1 \][/tex]

### Step 4: Calculate the Amount Available for Lifestyle Costs (Discretionary)
Finally, we need to calculate the amount available for lifestyle costs, which is 30% of the paycheck.

[tex]\[ \text{Wants percentage} = 30\% = 0.30 \][/tex]

[tex]\[ \text{Discretionary amount} = \text{Minimum paycheck} \times \text{Wants percentage} \][/tex]

[tex]\[ \text{Discretionary amount} = 1295.5 \times 0.30 = 388.65 \][/tex]

### Summary
- Minimum paycheck needed to cover essential costs: [tex]$1,295.50 - Amount to put aside for financial goals (savings): $[/tex]259.10
- Amount available for lifestyle costs (discretionary): $388.65

These values give a clear breakdown of how much you should make on each paycheck and how to allocate it according to the 50-30-20 budget rule.

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