Jasmin - High School Budget

Jasmin needs your help. Follow her along on a financial journey, as she makes mistakes, fixes them, and learns her lesson.

Her story covers the same material as FinStart’s Step-by-Step Toolkit. It’s not an evaluation or quiz, and there may be more than one correct answer.

The world of personal finance is not black and white - the right choice often depends on your circumstances. When you choose an answer, it will flash a certain color:

RED answers are wrong – you’ll never have to click these options if you recognize they’re incorrect.
GREEN means that answer is correct. So does YELLOW - but only under certain conditions. You must click both these colors to continue Jasmin's adventure.

High School Budget

Great Work!

When your parents can give you money on a regular basis, it’s called an allowance.

Remember, they’re budgeting too, and not all families can pay their children a regular allowance. Some parents don’t think an allowance is appropriate.

You can always ask your parents for an allowance, but be prepared they might say ‘no’.

Jasmin’s job at is regular income. Even though she works part-time, and doesn’t always work the same amount of hours each week, she still works at least one shift per week.

Shoveling snow is not a regular source of income. Even though Jasmin is always ready to shovel when snow falls, she can’t guarantee a storm will actually happen.Jasmin gets her paycheque every two weeks through direct deposit, which automatically sends the money to her chequing account.

Shoveling snow is not a regular source of income. Even though Jasmin is always ready to shovel when snow falls, she can’t guarantee a storm will actually happen.

Odd jobs, especially seasonal work, are irregular sources of income.

The flight cost is the most important expense of the trip. Without shuttle money, they wouldn’t be able to fly to the moon in the first place.

Although Saturn bars are incredibly delicious and make every school trip better, they are not a necessary purchase.

Every field trip has a mandatory educational component. Jasmin’s museum ticket is a key part of the trip expenses.

Unless you earn a lot of money, it can be hard to save for large purchases if you only put aside a small portion of your income.

If you’re having trouble saving, transfer your income to your savings account as soon as you get it. That way, you won’t be tempted to spend it all in one go.

Even if you're not saving for anything specific, put aside at least 20% of your income - it's a good habit and you'll be surprised how quickly everything adds up.

Calculate how long it'll take you to save the amount you need - you may want to speed it up by putting aside more or getting additional work.

It's okay to save more than 20%, especially if you're saving for something specific or something you really need.

Some purchases are more expensive than others - college tuition costs much more than a new phone.
There's no such thing as saving too much - don't feel obliged to spend your income if you don't need/want to. And remember, ‘fun’ has a place in every budget.