Skill(s) Being Assessed: Problem Solving

Criteria for Success: In this assignment, you will:
Create three monthly budgets using Excel for a financial analysis.
Summarize the change in expenditures between budgets.
Show the findings of your personal financial analysis using appropriate graphs/charts in Excel.
Explain how the chosen graphs/charts help someone to better understand the presented financial data better than other potential graphs/charts.
Discuss the results of financial analysis including overall progress towards saving goals, potential changes in budget that can be made in the future, possible economic/life impacts that may affect their budget in the coming year.
Reflect on what your financial analysis might reasonably look like in a year taking into account income growth and inflation of consumer prices.
What to submit/deliverables: A completed Assignment 3 XLS Template and a completed Assignment 3 Financial Analysis Explanation Word Template.

What is the value of doing this assignment? One way to check your progress towards your financial goals is to conduct a personal financial analysis. This will help you see how well you have stayed on track with your finances over a period of time. Using technology can help you stay organized throughout your analysis, as well as help visualize financial data. Displaying the data visually will allow you to observe general trends in your personal finances and to communicate about them effectively.

For this assignment you will be using Excel as your technology tool to analyze personal financial data and display that data visually. There are many other technologies available for personal or professional use that can be used for this type of analysis. The approach to learning and working with Excel software in this course is one you can apply to other technology tools in your life and career.

Your goal for this assignment is to: Build your confidence and practice in the technology skill by conducting a personal financial analysis using a technology tool. You will use Excel to organize three monthly budgets, visualize this financial data using charts and graphs/charts, and discuss the results of your financial analysis, including progress towards your selected financial goal from Assignment 2.

Steps to complete: In Week 10, submit your assignment in BlackBoard by following these steps:

STEP 1:Read the following scenario and review the Assignment 3 XLS Template.

Scenario: Three months have passed since you created your initial Financial Plan (from Assignment 2). A friend who is studying to become a financial advisor recommends that you check in on your progress towards your saving goal. She volunteers to help you conduct a financial analysis of your personal budget over three months. You meet with your friend each month to go over your analysis. In her studies she is learning that people understand budget concepts better when they are represented as visuals, so she asks you to create some.

In this assignment, you will make three monthly budgets. Your income increases each month, as shown in the tables in theAssignment 3 XLS Template. Additionally, in months 2 and 3, some cells have been filled in with a formula to represent an unexpected expense in that expenditure category for the month. You will need to reallocate your budget around this.

STEP 2: Use the Assignment 3 XLS Template and take the income and expenditures from Assignment 2 to use as your starting point for your Month 1 Budget.

Remember, that since this is a monthly budget, you will need to divide all of the values from your Assignment 2 annual plan by 12. After you have done this, you will notice that embedded formulas show that your income changes for months 2 and 3, because you received additional unexpected income from other sources.
You will also notice an increase in your Healthcare expenditure in Month 2 as the result of an unexpected medical emergency, as well as an increase in your Miscellaneous expenditures in Month 3 because of an unplanned for repair expense.
STEP 3: Fill in the cells of each monthly budget table to show how you would choose to allocate your income each month.

STEP 4: Use formulas to fill in the percentage columns for each monthly budget.

STEP 5: Create three appropriate graphs/charts (one for each month) in Excel to show the findings of your personal financial analysis. Each should show how you have allocated your income among the various categories.

STEP 6: Create a graph that shows your progress towards your savings goal across all three monthly budgets.

STEP 7: In the Word template, explain the reason why you chose the graphs/charts you did. How do the graphs/charts you created help someone understand the financial data?

STEP 8: Also in the Word template, discuss the results of your financial analysis including overall progress towards saving goals, potential changes in your budget that can be made in the future, and possible economic or life impacts that may affect your budget in the coming year.

STEP 9: Finally, in the Word template reflect on what your financial analysis might reasonably look like in a year taking into account income growth and inflation of consumer prices.

Question 1:
The economies of China and South Korea emerged from two different political systems. However, the two countries’ development policies and trajectories may present similarities.
1. Compare and contrast the two countries economic development policies by showing similarities and differences.
2. Select two economic indicators to compare and contrast the development of the two countries, using data from the World Bank and/or other trusted official data sources (e.g., UN, countrys statistical offices, etc.). Make sure to explain the trends. Provide at least 2 resources.

Question 2:
The ASEAN countries of Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines were hard hit by the Asian currency crisis.
1. Explain the origin of this crisis and the impact it had on the four countries. Provide at least two resources.
2. Select one economic indicator to stress the impact of the crisis on the four countries, using data from the World Bank and/or other trusted official data sources (e.g., UN, countrys statistical offices, etc.). Make sure to explain the trends. Provide at least 1 resource.

Please make sure to address the following questions:

1. What factors influence the demand for this product? What factors influence the supply of this product?

2.How have these changes in supply and demand affected the equilibrium price of this product?

3.Do you anticipate any changes to the demand and/or supply of this product in the near future? If so, what is driving these changes?

Complete this essay in a Microsoft Word document in APA format.

Please write a paragraph ( around 300 words) to reflect your understanding of Economics and decision-making in Business and in our life.

( you can refer to the your post in the first forum at the beginning of this course, and show something new or different or anything you want to share at the end of  this course)

Examine what caused the 2008 Financial Crisis using the following HBO documentary video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QozGSS7QY_U
as a starting point. Explain the Financial Crisis solution using one of the following schools of thought. Austrian, Monetarism, Keynesian or Chicago. Make sure to cite at least three sources either in MLA or APA style and have a minimum of 250 words.

a) There has been an intense debate on Aggregate Demand an Aggregate Supply side policies. Please read this blog from a few years ago.

http://welkerswikinomics.com/blog/2011/10/31/keynes-versus-hayek-101-the-debate-continues/
You may want to watch the following video with this debate theme;

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/10/28/141802704/the-friday-podcast-keynes-vs-hayek
There are also others pay attention to the same issue:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/demand-not-supply-is-restraining-the-economy/
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/its-the-aggregate-demand-stupid/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

Question: Based on your readings on the topic (textbook, above links), which side is right (Aggregate Demand side or Aggregated Supply side)? Why?
b) After reviewing these sources, write a report (clearly typed in a MS-Word file using MS-Word). Your report should be broken into two sections:

Section 1: Summary of the Issue (two paragraphs long, 5-10 sentences in each paragraph): Tell me what the issue is, what major points the authors were conveying, and what their conclusions were. Do not copy/paste excerpts from the articles or various web-sites. Summary should be in your own words and should be based on your understanding of the issues covered in the articles.

Section 2: Your Thoughts on the Issue (two paragraphs long, 5-10 sentences in each paragraph): Based on your review of the materials, please comment on the question above (critically evaluate the issue; provide supporting evidence, examples for your own point of view).

1. introduce the historical and current economic condition in Colombia. Identify if the country is an example of economic success or failure. Also discuss the theoretical perspective like Modernization theory, marxist-inspired approaches, globalization theory.

2. explain how poverty in the country has been addressed.

3. how do you evaluate the efforts to alleviate poverty in Colombia.
4. conclusion