Touchstones Are Projects That Illustrate Your Compreh 356740 ✓ Solved

Touchstones Are Projects That Illustrate Your Comprehension Of The Cou

Touchstones are projects that illustrate your comprehension of the course material, help you refine skills, and demonstrate application of knowledge. You can work on a Touchstone anytime, but you can't submit it until you have completed the unit’s Challenges. Once you've submitted a Touchstone, it will be graded and counted toward your final course score. One way to check your progress towards your financial goals is to conduct a personal financial analysis. This will help you see how well you have stayed on track with your finances over time.

Using technology can help you stay organized and help you visualize financial data, uncover trends, and effectively communicate your findings. Your goal for this Touchstone is to build your confidence with technology. Using Microsoft Excel, you will organize three monthly budgets, visualize the data using graphs, and discuss the results. You’ll begin with the budget you created in Excel in the Unit 2 Touchstone. There are many types of technologies available for personal or professional use that can analyze and display personal financial data.

Your experience with Excel spreadsheets in this course is a skill you can apply to other technology tools in your life and career. If you need a refresher on spreadsheets, review the tutorials in Unit 1, Challenge 3 of this course. Touchstone: Analyzing Your Personal Finances

SCENARIO: Three months have passed since you created your first financial plan (i.e., the Unit 2 Touchstone). In that time, your budget has gone through some changes. The good news is that your income has increased because of your strong performance at work.

However, health care and miscellaneous costs have gone up along with your earnings. You will need to reallocate your monthly budget based on these changes to see how you’re progressing toward your original savings goal. While you appreciate numbers and figures, you also know that a strong financial analysis needs visual information. As part of your progress check, you’ve committed to creating a set of graphs that you can share with your financial advisor.

Assignment

This assignment has two parts.

In part 1, you will analyze personal finance data based on the scenario described above. You’ll use your problem solving and agility skills to balance three monthly budgets, and you’ll use your technology skill to graph the spending allocations in each of them. Finally, you’ll sharpen all three skills as you calculate and graph the progress you’re making toward your original savings goal.

In part 2, you will answer reflection questions about the decisions you made, identify how to create more savings opportunities, and make predictions about life and economic impacts that could affect the future of your plan. For this assignment, you will: Create three monthly budgets and perform a personal financial analysis using Microsoft Excel.

Summarize changes in expenditures between budgets. Show the results of the analysis using appropriate graphs in Excel. Explain how the graph types you have selected will help your financial advisor understand the data. Discuss the results of the financial analysis including savings achievements, future budget modifications, and life impacts that could derail the budget in the coming year. Reflect on what the analysis might reasonably look like in one year, accounting for economic factors such as inflation and the consumer price index.

Download the Excel template below, which further breaks down the steps involved in this assignment. You will return the completed template as your Touchstone submission.

Assignment Template

Assignment Guidelines

DIRECTIONS: Refer to the lists below throughout the assignment. Do not submit your Touchstone until it meets these guidelines.

1. Analyzing Your Personal Finances

• Have you populated the tables for Month 1, Month 2, and Month 3 with your budgeting information?
• Have you verified that all amounts are displayed on a monthly (not annual) basis?
• Have you verified that the sum of your expenditures (including savings) equals your employment income?
• Have you populated the Savings Progress table?
• Have you selected the most effective graph type for each of your data sets?
• Have you left all predetermined formulas intact?

• Have you directly answered each question that was asked?
• Have you provided sufficient evidence to support each of your answers?
• Have you made clear and logical connections between your conclusions and the data used in the financial analysis?
• Have you leveraged content from the course tutorials about economic factors?
• Have you included sufficient detail in your answers?

Sample Paper For Above instruction

In recent years, personal financial management has become increasingly reliant on technological tools like Microsoft Excel to facilitate detailed, visual, and analytical understanding of financial data. Effective use of these tools can greatly enhance individuals' ability to meet their financial goals, adapt to changing circumstances, and prepare for future economic conditions.

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of personal finances based on a scenario where an individual's budget experiences notable changes over three months. At the outset, the individual has an initial budget, which, after three months, is adjusted due to increased income but also increased expenditures in health care and miscellaneous costs. The primary objective is to create adaptive budgets, visualize spending patterns, and assess progress toward savings goals using Excel, thereby demonstrating proficiency in financial analysis and technological application.

The initial step involves detailed budgeting for three consecutive months. The individual populates Excel tables with accurate expenditure data, ensuring all values are expressed on a monthly basis to facilitate straightforward comparison. Critically, the total expenditures, including savings, must equal the total income for each month, reflecting realistic budgeting constraints.

Subsequently, the individual analyzes changes between the budgets, identifying increases or decreases in various expense categories. The use of appropriate graphs, such as bar charts for categorical expenditure, line graphs for tracking savings over time, or pie charts for expenditure distribution, is essential. The choice of graph types should be justified based on their effectiveness in communicating the data to stakeholders like financial advisors.

The analysis also involves discussing how the visual data helps identify trends, disparities, or areas for improvement. For example, if health care costs have substantially increased, the individual might consider reallocating funds from discretionary spending or increasing income sources. The use of Excel formulas and functions ensures calculations are accurate and dynamically linked, enabling future updates without manual recalculation.

Furthermore, the paper reflects on the implications of the financial analysis, considering savings achievements and potential obstacles. The individual hypothesizes about future budget modifications influenced by anticipated economic factors such as inflation and changes in the consumer price index. For instance, inflation could erode purchasing power, necessitating adjustments in savings or expenditure plans.

In conclusion, adept use of Excel for financial analysis supports better decision-making and strategic planning. Mastery of data visualization techniques, coupled with thoughtful interpretation of economic factors, prepares individuals to navigate future financial challenges effectively. This practice not only enhances personal financial literacy but also equips individuals for more informed discussions with financial professionals.

References

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