Exploring Financial Literacy 46 Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. May not be reproduced or posted to a publicly accessible website. LO 3-2 LO 3-2 Income When planning a budget, an important step is to estimate your income. Income is money received from any source, such as pay from a job, a birthday gift, or an allowance. You can estimate your income for a budget based on what you typically receive each month. For example, Carlos tracked his last month’s income, as shown in Figure 3-1. He will use this as an estimate for the budget he will create for next month. To estimate your income, track the income you had last month and record the amount in a chart similar to the one shown in Figure 3-1. Write each source of income, such as job, yard work, or allowance. Then, total the amounts. This will serve as an estimate of your income when you create a budget for the next month. As a teen, your income is probably not very high. However, after you graduate and begin a career, your income should increase. Learning to manage your income now will help you as you make more money in the future. Check Your Understanding Explain how to estimate income. __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Monthly Income Carlos Acosta For the Month of September, 20-- Source Amount Part-time job $368.42 Babysitting 15.00 Yard work for neighbors 45.00 Allowance 40.00 Gifts 25.00 Total Income $493.42 Goodheart-Willcox Publisher Figure 3-1 Carlos kept track of his income for a month using this table. Explain why you think it is important to list each source of income separately.