Discussion: Saving for the Future Example
For example, using the numbers in the sample spreadsheet, I used 25, 30, and 35 for “#number of years until retirement.” For 25, I set the “number of years you will live off of your money” to 30. For 30, I set the “live off of your money” number to 25, and, for 35, I set the “live of your money” number to 20. The 3 different amounts needed to be saved each month were $2,239, $1,346, and $748.
Note that 1346/2239 = .60 and 748/2239 = .33. So, in my post I would say that I used 25, 30, and 35 years for the “#number of years until retirement.” When I changed from 25 to 30 years, it reduced the amount I needed to save per month to 61% of the original amount. When I changed “#number of years until retirement” to 35 years, it reduced the amount I needed to save per month to 33% of the original amount. By sharing these percentages and not the actual dollar amounts, you show your instructor that you did this comparison part of the assignment (and you preserve the privacy of your financial information).
For the rest of your thread, you may tell the class what surprised you, what you learned from the exercise, or any actions you need to take to adjust your savings and/or debt reduction strategy. You are not required to share any personal financial information with either your instructor or with any other classmate. Do NOT post your worksheet into the Discussion Forum. Also, if you know of a link to another resource that has helped you in your attempt to honor God by managing your finances wisely, you are welcome to share that link with the class.
For your replies, consider talking about something you found surprising or helpful in the other classmate’s thread or something you found helpful to yourself from this exercise.
