Congratulations! You have been given $1,000,000. As a part of this inheritance, you have been given guidelines to follow for how to spend it. Make sure the follow the guidelines to the letter so you don't hurt Grandma Jacque's feelings.
YOU MUST:
1. Nebraska is one of the eight states who require you to pay an inheritance tax. Since your grandma left you a $1,000,000 you have to pay an Inheritance Tax of 1%. The government gets their money first.
2. Invest 15,000 in a money market fund. This will be set up so that when you retire at age of 65 - 70 years of age you will be set.
3. Put at least $75,000 aside for college education. Look at the website http://www.topuniversities.com/student-info/student-finance/how-much-does-it-cost-study-us. It provides a table that will give you an estimate at what a college will cost depending on where you plan to study. Find the cost of the education for ONE year and then calculate it against how many years it will take you to achieve your degree. To find out long long it will take to get your degree, google "how many years does it take to become a _______". Add 10% to cover inflation, books and other expenses related to education.
4. Purchase a home that is NO MORE than $300,000. Research various homes in locations that you would like to live. Find the home that you feel isPERFECT for you and print out one page with the specs from the home. Century 21 has relators all over the United States and can help you with your search. When you purchase a home you typically pay closing costs on it. We will use a Closing Cost Calculator to figure the approximate cost for this.
5. Take a family vacation. Use a travel agency to determine expenses for the total cost including: hotel, airfare, meals, transportation (map quest: calculate cost of gas), spending money, etc. Complete an itemized list of expenses for your trip. Here is a link to vacation packages: Creative Adventures
6. Purchase a vehicle. Using dealership sites, find a car or vehicle that is to your liking and print out the one page with the specs for the car from the dealership. Two local dealerships you may want to use is Plum Creek Motors and/or Plate Valley Autos. When a vehicle is purchased you are required to pay sales tax. For Lexington the tax rate is 7%.
7. Make one charitable donation. Remember that friends, family, and pets do not qualify as a charity. Find a charity that means something to you and give them funds based on a project they are working on.
You may NOT spend more than $1,000,000 but you want to spend as much of it as possible. This project is developed to help you plan for your future and develop the math skills that you have acquired and put them in a real-life situation by spending money within a budget.
Other rules for the Million Dollar Project:
1. All time used in class on the internet is to not be wasted. Make sure you are on appropriate sites and using time wisely as you will be receiving a grade based on participation and being on-task.
2. You may not purchase more than 2 of the same item.
3. Make sure to record all items that you purchase on the expense tracking sheet to total up your expenses as you go along. YOU MAY NOT go over $1,000,000 from your budget and you MAY NOT borrow money from a friend.
4. Each purchase that you make MUST have a check written out appropriately. You will not be able to write more than the 18 checks that you are given. View to see how to write a check correctly.
5. Design a cover for your project in Microsoft Word and staple it to your tracking sheets, checks, specs and rubric before turning it in.
(This project has been modified from The Million Dollar Project from Janis Noble at Caffeinated Conclusions.)