- Choose an item that your family might want to purchase that is considered a major expense.
- Write a plan that tells how your family would save money for the purchase identified in requirement 1a.
- Discuss the plan with your merit badge counselor
- Discuss the plan with your family
- Discuss how other family needs must be considered in this plan.
- Determine the quality of the item or service (using consumer publications or ratings systems).
- Comparison shop for the item. Find out where you can buy the item for the best price. (Provide prices from at least two different price sources.) Call around; study ads. Look for a sale or discount coupon. Consider alternatives. Can you buy the item used? Should you wait for a sale?
- Prepare a budget reflecting your expected income (allowance, gifts, wages), expenses, and savings for a period of 13 consecutive weeks.
- Compare expected income with expected expenses.
- If expenses exceed budget income, determine steps to balance your budget.
- If income exceeds budget expenses, state how you would use the excess money (new goal, savings).
- The emotions you feel when you receive money.
- Your understanding of how the amount of money you have with you affects your spending habits.
- Your thoughts when you buy something new and your thoughts about the same item three months later. Explain the concept of buyer's remorse.
- How hunger affects you when shopping for food items (snacks, groceries).
- Your experience of an item you have purchased after seeing or hearing advertisements for it. Did the item work as well as advertised?
- Your understanding of what happens when you put money into a savings account.
- Charitable giving. Explain its purpose and your thoughts about it.
- What you can do to better manage your money.
- The differences between saving and investing, including reasons for using one over the other.
- The concepts of return on investment and risk and how they are related.
- The concepts of simple interest and compound interest.
- The concept of diversification in investing.
- Why it is important to save and invest for retirement.
- Common stocks
- Mutual funds
- Life insurance
- A certificate of deposit (CD)
- A savings account
- A U.S. savings bond
- Automobile
- Health
- Homeowner's/renter's
- Whole life and term life
- What a loan is, what interest is, and how the annual percentage rate (APR) measures the true cost of a loan.
- The different ways to borrow money.
- The differences between a charge card, debit card, and credit card. What are the costs and pitfalls of using these financial tools? Explain why it is unwise to make only the minimum payment on your credit card.
- Credit reports and how personal responsibility can affect your credit report.
- Ways to reduce or eliminate debt.
- Write a "to do" list of tasks or activities, such as homework assignments, chores, and personal projects, that must be done in the coming week. List these in order of importance to you.
- Make a seven-day calendar or schedule. Put in your set activities, such as school classes, sports practices or games, jobs or chores, and/or Scout or place of worship or club meetings, then plan when you will do all the tasks from your "to do" list between your set activities.
- Follow the one-week schedule you planned. Keep a daily diary or journal during each of the seven days of this week's activities, writing down when you completed each of the tasks on your "to do" list compared to when you scheduled them.
- With your merit badge counselor, review your "to do" list, one-week schedule, and diary/journal to understand when your schedule worked and when it did not work. Discuss what you might do differently the next time.
- Define the project. What is your goal?
- Develop a timeline for your project that shows the steps you must take from beginning to completion.
- Describe your project.
- Develop a list of resources. Identify how these resources will help you achieve your goal.
- Develop a budget for your project.
- Choose a career you might want to enter after high school or college graduation. Discuss with your counselor the needed qualifications, education, skills, and experience.
- Explain to your counselor what the associated costs might be to pursue this career, such as tuition, school or training supplies, and room and board. Explain how you could prepare for these costs and how you might make up for any shortfall.
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BSA Advancement ID#: 11
Scoutbook ID#: 85
Requirements last updated in: 2024
Pamphlet Publication Number: 35928
Pamphlet Stock (SKU) Number:
Pamphlet Revision Date:Worksheets for use in working on these requirements: Format Word Format PDF Format Blanks in this worksheets table appear when we do not have a worksheet for the badge that includes these requirements.
Page updated on: February 06, 2024
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