NGPF Activity Bank

Saving
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CREATE: Your Savings Goals

We all know that saving money is good for us, but it can be challenging to save regularly. One of the most effective ways
to help you save is to set savings goals for yourself and identify ways to keep yourself accountable. In this activity, you’ll
identify what your savings goals are, calculate how much you need to save, and write a letter to your future self to help
you reach your goals.

Part I: Identify Your Savings Goals

1. Using the table below, think of at least 3 goals for each category and type them into the appropriate box. You
should brainstorm specific savings goals you would like to meet. These goals can vary from small (saving for a
new pair of sunglasses) to big (saving for college). Remember to include at least 3 goals for each category. Your
goals should go along with the following:

a. Short-term goals: goals you would like to achieve within two months
b. Medium-term goals: goals you would like to achieve from within two months to three years
c. Long-term goals: goals you would like to achieve three or more years out

3. Fill out the table below using the piles you created.

Short-Term Goals Medium-Term Goals Long-Term Goals

< 2 months 2 months - 3 years > 3 years

 Stop procrastinating  Get into college  Being financially stable

 Keeping my gardes up  Maintaining school and  Having a good paying job or
 Maintain school and basketball be a professional basketball
basketball  Staying on top of my grades player
 Buying myself a home

4. Which goal, in each category, would motivate you most to save? Why?
a. Short-term:
Goal: Stop procrastinating on school work
Why it’s the most motivating: Its motivating because I need to stay on top of my grades to make sure
my grades never go back down.

b. Medium-term:
Goal: Keeping good grades

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 Why it’s the most motivating: It’s the most motivating because I need to stop playing catch up with
my work last minute because its stressful.

c. Long-term:
Goal: being financially stable.
Why it’s the most motivating: Because I want to be stable enough to take care of myself and my
future family.

5. Let’s say you have a part-time job and you’re able to save $100 per month from your paychecks. How would you
distribute the money between your 3 savings goals above? Explain your reasoning.
The money would go towards my savings to save up for college because I need to save enough money for
tuition, books, and etc.

Part II: Calculate How Much You Need to Save

Now that you’ve identified what your savings goals are, it’s important to think about how much you would need to save
on a regular basis so that you can reach those goals! Read through the following example on how Sanjana calculates
how much she would need to save to buy a new computer. Then, answer the questions that follow.

Sanjana wants to buy a computer that she can use for school next year which is 9 months away. She discovers
that she can buy a computer for $400 at a discount electronics store in town.

● How much does Sanjana have to save every MONTH to buy the computer?
ANSWER: $400 / 9 months = $44.44/mo
● How much does Sanjana have to save every WEEK to buy the computer?
ANSWER: $44.44 / 4 weeks = $11.11/wk
● How much does Sanjana have to save every DAY to buy the computer?
ANSWER: $11.11 / 7 days = $1.59/day

6. Now it’s your turn. Pick either your medium- or long-term savings goal from Question 4 and write it down
below.
Getting into college

7. Conduct research online to figure out a rough estimate of how much you would need to save to reach your goal.
Write the figure below.
$20,000

8. How many months or years away would you like to achieve your goal? Choose a reasonable time frame.
2 years

9. Now, do the math! Calculate how much per month, week, and day you'll need to save to reach your goal. Hint:
See the example above on how to calculate and type your answer out just how the example does.
Month: $20,000/2=$10,000/mo

Week: $10,000/4=$2,500/wk

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 Day: $2,500/7= $357

10. Brainstorm at least 3 strategies you can use to save towards your goal.
 Save my money
 Put aside emergency funds.
 Get a student loan

11. Why is it helpful to break down the total amount you would need to save on a monthly, weekly, or daily basis?
Its helpful to break down the total amount you would need to save because then you can start opening up a
savings account and put money aside for what you need it for.

Part III: Keep Yourself Accountable

So far, you’ve identified what your goals are, how much you need to save, and strategies you can use to save regularly.
Sounds like you’re good to go, right? Not so fast! Saving also takes discipline, and you need to keep yourself
accountable. One way to do this is to write a letter to your future self to remind you why you’re saving in the first place.

12. In the space below, type a letter to your future self about how you plan to reach the goals that you outlined
above.

● Explain why you are writing this letter

● Describe your savings goal(s) in detail and why you want to reach your goal
● Identify any concerns you may have about meeting your goal
● Outline specific steps you can take to address your concerns
● Provide some words of encouragement and close the letter

Dear Future Me, I am writing this letter because hopefully in the future when you see it all the goals and strategies will
be accomplished in da future that we set back in our senior year. Hopefully at this time we are in college playing college
basketball at whatever 3 schools accepted me or the 2 scholarships I have, but also hope I’m there studying sports
medicine and learning how to become a chiropractor. This as been the dream since I started playing basketball which 4
years old becoming a chiropractor/ studying sports medicine came along the way as a backup plan. I am scared but have
faith that I will get the opportunity to be accepted in the schools I applied for which were Morgan State, Townson
University, and Old Dominion University. I know its getting hard dre but we got this, I know we slacked our freshman
year but we kept it up sophomore year, and most of junior year, and in your current senior year you have been
maintaining good grades while playing basketball we slacked a little bit but thanks to the teachers I have they let me play
catch up with some work to maintain these good grades I have while playing basketball but we got this dre our dream
and goals will happen in the future we are calling it now.

13. Now, copy the letter that you wrote above to your future self, and then paste it once you click on the FutureMe
website.
a. Select the 1, 3, 5 year option or a specific date when the letter will be emailed to you
b. Choose the PRIVATE option

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c. Enter the email address you would like your letter to be sent to. Make sure you will have access to that
email by the time the letter is sent to you.

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