Practice

Three things you can actually move

Each of these is drawn into the lesson it belongs to. Here the numbers are left free, so you can push them around and see what happens. Nothing is recorded and nothing is sent anywhere.

Lesson 1

Build a budget on a real first-job paycheck

You bring home $840 a month — about 18 hours a week at $13/hr after deductions. The figures below are the worked example from the lesson.

Phone $55

Gas & car $180

Food & eating out $220

Going out & extras $150

Savings $80

Fixed $235 Flexible $370 $80 $155

Fixed 28% · Flexible 44% · Future 10% — against the 50/30/20 starting point, with $155 unassigned. Try moving $20 from flexible into savings and see how little you notice.

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Lesson 3

Explore a real pay stub

Two weeks at 34 hours, $13.00/hr. Riverside Retail LLC, pay period 03/01–03/14, check #4471. Select any line to open what it is.

Pay stub, one line per item
Item	Amount
Regular 68.00 hrs @ $13.00	$884.00
Federal income tax	−$62.80
Social Security (6.2%)	−$54.81
Medicare (1.45%)	−$12.82
KY state income tax	−$35.36
Boyd Co. occupational tax	−$8.84
Net pay	$709.37

What each line is

Regular 68.00 hrs @ $13.00

Gross pay. Hours times rate, before anything is taken out. Always check both numbers — hours short by a shift is the most common payroll error.

Federal income tax

Federal withholding. Based on the W-4 you filled out on day one. Too much and you get a refund; too little and you owe. It is adjustable — you can file a new W-4 at any time.

Social Security (6.2%)

FICA — Social Security. A fixed 6.2% of gross, matched by your employer. Not optional and not adjustable. It funds retirement and disability benefits.

Medicare (1.45%)

FICA — Medicare. A fixed 1.45%, also matched by your employer. Funds health coverage for people 65 and over.

KY state income tax

State income tax. Kentucky applies a flat rate. Most states withhold something; a few have no state income tax at all.

Boyd Co. occupational tax

Local occupational tax. Many Kentucky cities and counties levy their own tax on wages, on top of state. It is easy to miss, and it is why take-home here differs from an identical job elsewhere.

Net pay

Net pay — what actually reaches your account. $884 gross became $709. That gap is about 20%, which is typical, and it is why budgeting from your gross wage always comes up short.

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Lesson 6

See what time does to money

Assumes 7% average annual growth, compounded monthly. The table is the worked example: $50 a month, starting at 18.

What $50 a month becomes, at 7% a year
Time saving	Value
After 10 years	$8,654
After 20 years	$26,046
After 30 years	$60,998
After 47 years	$219,321

Starting at 18 and saving $50 a month to age 65, you would put in about $28,200 and finish near $219,321. Roughly $191,121 of that was never your money — it is growth.

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