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Level 4 · ages 16–18OECD PMSpend

Budgeting at 18

🎯 Goal: Make a personal budget when starting to live independently.
You can budget when independent using 50/30/20 and prioritize paying debt, building an emergency fund; track reality and adjust.

Let’s explore

📋
Living independently, list income and costs: housing/food, transport, study, fun.
🧮
A reference frame: 50% essentials — 30% wants — 20% saving/investing.
🔄
Track reality and adjust; prioritize paying debt (if any) and building an emergency fund.
🧮
The 50/30/20 frame: 50% essentials, 30% wants, 20% saving/investing. With 5,000,000d: essentials = 5M × 50 ÷ 100 = 2,500,000d; wants = 1,500,000d; saving = 1,000,000d.

Practice activity

🗒️ Sketch a sample budget for a student with 5 million/month income.
Worked example: A student with 5,000,000d/month, split 50/30/20: essentials 2,500,000d (housing, food, transport), wants 1,500,000d (fun), saving/investing 1,000,000d. Note each line in a notebook.

Quick quiz

1. The 50/30/20 budget means?
→ 50% essentials, 30% wants, 20% saving
2. Living independently, prioritize?
→ Paying debt and building an emergency fund
3. A budget should be?
→ Tracked and adjusted
4. Income 5M, 'wants' take 30%. The amount for 'wants' is?
→ 1,500,000đ
5. 50% of 5M for essentials is?
→ 2,500,000d
6. When income rises, the budget should?
→ Be updated, boosting savings first

🎯 Real-life mission

Draft a hypothetical monthly budget for living independently.

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