Great chart to analyze from Flowing Data:

Quick orientation: Reading up and down, you get percentage breakdowns by income group, and reading across you get average annual spending.

Questions (and you can certainly ask a lot)

1. Which cost item is the largest one for ALL income groups?
2. Which income groups have a budget deficit (i.e. spend more than they earn)?
3. How do individuals manage to live with a budget deficit? How do they spend money they don't have? 
4. Agree or disagree with this statement about cash contributions (donations to charity): The amount that people donate varies greatly by their income level. 
5. Based on the chart, at what income level does it appear to get easier to set aside money for savings?
6. Agree or disagree with this statement: The more income you have, the more you are likely to spend on healthcare as a percentage of your income. 
7. Analyzing this chart, complete these statements:
   1. Lower income groups tend to spend more (as a percentage of their income) on _________________ than higher income groups. 
   2. Lower income groups tend to spend less (as a percentage of income) on _______________________ than lower income groups. 

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Let your students create their own "Adult budgets" and see how their spending ands savings pattern compare in this NGPF Activity: CREATE a Salary-Based Budget! 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.