HomeMoney Minds GamesBudget Balance KS4

Budget Balance

Key Stage 3-4

Welcome to your budget balance challenge. Your task is to navigate your way through your year and keep your budget balanced – stay in the black and out of the red.

You also want to save up for something which costs £200... more on this later!

Before we start, let’s go over the basics…

What is a budget? An estimate of income (the money you have coming in) and expenditure (the money you spend) for a set period of time

That is true. It does help you to estimate income and expenditure but that isn’t the only thing it can help with... try again!

A plan of how you will spend your money

Yes – it can be a really helpful plan but that’s isn’t the only thing a budget is... try again!

A way to work out whether you spend more than you earn and what you can afford to spend

Yes, it does help you look at whether you spend more than you earn but that isn’t the only thing a budget can help you do... try again!

All of the above

Yes! That’s correct. Well done. A budget can help you do all these things.

Why is it important?

A budget is important because it helps you monitor and control what you are spending. It could even help you save more money, prepare for emergencies, make better financial decisions, and stay focused on your long-term financial goals.

Being able to budget and be in control of your money is a really important skill. Knowing how much you have and how much you have spent will help you stay on top of your finances.

It will also help you think ahead. Sometimes spending more on something now will help you in the long term. For example, buying the more expensive headphones might mean they don’t break within two weeks, so you don't have to buy another pair!

Without being able to budget properly, people can find themselves overspending (spending money they don’t have or can’t pay back) and this can lead to a debt spiral. This can be a very worrying situation to be in and can cause all sorts of problems. Something to be avoided!

In this module you will look at balancing your budget and keeping track of what you have spent.

Now you have completed the challenge...

Think about your real life situation.

Do you have a part time job or do you get pocket money?

Question...

Do you have a part time job or do you get pocket money? How much to you get. Describe it below.

What costs do you have or do you think you’ll have? Write them below.

What choices do you think you might have to make in order to balance your budget?

If you didn’t have any savings, where would you get the money for the unexpected costs (like the vet’s bill) or the activities you want to do?

Head to our Lifestyle Learning module for more tips.

Download your Certificate

Your Name

Give us your Feedback

Do you have any feedback or comments for how we could improve this game? Let us know by filling in the form below.

You must fill in all fields marked with a *.

Where did you hear about Money Minds? *

Other *

Did you learn something new? * Yes No

Do you feel more confident about this topic? * Yes No

How did you enjoy this module? *

How old are you? *

Comments

Uh oh.. There was an error sending your feedback!

Thanks for your feedback.

Thank you for taking the time to complete our game and providing us with some really useful comments. We'll use these to improve our games and our website.