Life Happens Project - Group 6

Life Cards

Life Cards 5 and 6

Life Card #5

August

In the month of August Justin must get braces. The Hamilton’s find that insurance through Mr. Hamilton’s work does not cover any of the braces cost. The total cost is $3,500, $3,000 for the actual braces and $500 for the retainer. As a family the Hamilton’s decided to do a 24 month payment plan. So, each month they will have a cost of $146 each month. The ending savings balance in August is $47,572.96. The following months will have a similar balance.

Life Card #6

September

In September, Mr. Hamilton was forced to take a twenty percent pay cut due to a loss in business profits. Since the Hamilton’s are very money-conscious and live within their means, they were able to cut from the significant amount they contribute into their long-term savings each month. In order to help maintain their lifestyle while still contributing to their savings, Mrs. Hamilton took on the job of becoming a nanny for two children from a neighborhood family in her home. This made her able to contribute an additional $3,000 per month to the long-term savings, offsetting the $5,208.34 loss in monthly income. After this, the Hamilton family ended the year with $67,413.08 in their savings and still living quite comfortably.

Life Cards 1 and 2

Life Card #1

February

Budget

Our 12 year old daughter Sophia had a sleepover with 10 of her closest friends to celebrate her birthday. We had originally put $250 aside for her birthday, $100 for food and $150 for gifts. We took an additional $100 out of our long-term savings to purchase decorations, supplies for goodie bags and rent movies. It was well worth it to see how happy the kids were. They all had a good time eating pizza, candy, and of course cake.

Life Happens Project - Group 6

HAPPY BIZRTHDAY!!!!!!

Due to technical difficulties, the budget is unable to be downloaded. However there will be a link for viewers to see, that will be posted under this presentation. Our Sincere Apologies for the difficulties.

Life Card #2

March

• The family had prepared in advance for floods and other unexpected life expenses. In our home life insurance, it covers our home damages up to $50,000 when a flood occurs. Depending on how severe the damages are we will be prepared. Due to the fact that we are going to have to stay at a hotel for two weeks, we are going to be spending more money than we usually would. Therefore, we are going to use the money from our long-term savings to cover these unexpected costs. We have decided to stay at the Marriot in Irvine so that we stay within our same city limit. Our hotel has two bedrooms, living and kitchen area. We wanted to make sure that we had a kitchen so that we could save money on groceries so that we didn’t eat out. Furthermore, we wanted to make sure that the children would be comfortable. Our room costs $209.00 a night, which, ends up being $2,926.00 total, for 14 days. Our groceries are about $250.00 a week, which ends up being a total of $500.00 for two weeks. Our overall cost between our hotel and groceries is a grand total of $3,426.00.

Life Cards 3 and 4

Life Card #3

April

The Father needs to visit the Dentist for a root canal and a crown. The family has health benefits through the father’s employer, but there is a co-payment that needs to be taken care of first. The co-payment required is $500 dollars. The total cost for the Dental Work that is needed sums up to $1200. So we subtracted the copay ($500) from the total which was $1200-$500= $700. Our Insurance covers 90% of the $700, which is $630. So then we take our total bill of $12000-$630 which equals $570 that we need to pay out of our own pocket. If we did not have health benefits we would have had enough money in our savings to pay from the families pocket.

Life Card #4

July

Our family was audited and required to pay a fee of $15,000. We decided to pay the fee in one payment, instead of having a monthly plan. We were able to pay it in one sitting, because we had enough funds in our savings account..After life cards 1,2, and 3 our savings account had a balance of $54,862.09. After we paid the $15,000 our account had a balance of $39,862.09. Life card #4 did not have a tremendous impact on our economic stability, because we had enough money in our savings account.

Meet the Children

Molly Hamilton (3 years old)

Molly is an energetic 3-year-old girl whose daily routine revolves around her mother’s schedule. She loves being her mommy’s little helper with household chores and cooking. Molly enjoys going to the gym daycare while her mom works out. She is also very close with her brother Justin and sister Sofia. Molly really enjoys supporting her brother at his football games and attempting to play video games with her sister. When Molly isn’t running errands with her mom; she entertains herself with her dolls, playing with Sprinkles her sister's cat and loves to go to gymnastics on Saturday mornings.

After 20% pay cut

Justin Hamilton ( 17 years old)

Once Molly’s mom began watching the neighbors girls she stopped attending the gym daycare. Now that she is with the girls all day, Molly enjoys following the girls around and attempting to participate in their activities. The rest of Molly’s schedule stays the same.

Justin Hamilton is an all-American seventeen year old boy from an upper-middle class family. He a wide-receiver for the varsity high-school football team and works hard academically to maintain his eligibility to play. He is popular with his peers and spends most of his spare time practicing after school and maintaining himself physically for football. On Friday nights, he gets to be the star of the family while they cheer him on at his games during the season. This leaves him free to spend the weekends hanging out with his football buddies or spending quality family time.

Impact

Sophia Hamilton (12 years old)

Meet the Hamilton Family

Sophia is the middle child of her family. She is 12 years old and in the 7th grade. Sophia does have a learning disability, but despite all that she is an intelligent young girl who loves and excels in her computer class. Her tutor comes Monday- Thursday after school to help her with homework and anything that she needs assistance with. Sophia has a kitten named Sprinkles, which she is responsible for feeding and cleaning. During the weekends she loves to hang out with friends and play video games.

Meet the Parents

Theory/ Theorist

Stacy Hamilton (Mother)

before 20% pay cut

Stacy Hamilton is a loving woman that dedicates most of her time to her family. On the weekdays she prepares the kids for school, because the Hamilton’s education is a vital tool for success. While her kids are at school Stacy runs errands and completes chores around the house. She enjoys staying fit by going to the gym every day, after dropping Sophia at school. With the help of her daughters, Stacy makes dinner for her family every night. On Saturdays Stacy loves to pamper herself by getting her hair and nails done. Stacy is the glue that keeps the family together-she is always planning out family activities, to create strong familial bonds.

Due to the fact that the parents of this family planned ahead, they were able to give their children the best life possible. Our family is an upper middle class family that lives within their means, so even when they hit a 20 percent pay cut, they were able to keep their same lifestyle. Stacy, the mother, decided that contribution to their long-term savings was important. Therefore, she cancelled her gym membership and got a job watching two of her neighbors kid five days a week from 8-5pm. The family lived a comfortable lifestyle, and made sure that their children had everything they needed. Throughout this difficult time the family was very blessed to have only a dent in their savings. Therefore, they were able to get through this struggle.

After 20% pay cut

Robert Hamilton (Father)

After the 20% pay cut, Stacy decided that she wanted to work to bring in a little more income for the family. She became a nanny for two kids, working 10 hours a day 5 days a week, and gets paid $3,000 a month. There were some minor changes to Stacy’s schedule after the pay-cut, she stopped going to the gym so that she could have time to nanny. Other than that Stacy follows her regular schedule; the only difference is she is now watching two additional kids.

Robert is the president of a national bank and his income is enough that his wife can be a stay at home mom. His workdays are long, but he is usually home by 6:30 pm for dinner with his family. He is a huge sports buff and enjoys sharing this with his son, Justin. He enjoys watching Molly at gymnastics every Saturday and tries his best to support his kids in all their endeavors. It is important that he takes time off every year to go on vacation with his family, so they can create memories they can share throughout the years. Family is extremely important to Robert, which is why he works as hard as he does every day. His biggest goal is to give his children and family the best life possible.

Hurst: Pages 224-228

• Herbert Spencer believed in survival of the fittest, if one was the most fit they are going to thrive and survive within society. Furthermore, he believed that he government shouldn’t be involved in fixing the inequality. This is similar to our family’s situation because our family is upper middle class we are fit to handle these life struggles. The family has prepared themselves for life struggles by living within their means, saving their money, and buying only what is needed. By taking all of these actions, the family is able to live comfortably and not have to be dependent on anyone but themselves.

The Hamilton’s are a happy little family living comfortably in Irvine. Robert and Stacy Hamilton are the parents to Justin, 17, Sophia, 12, and Molly, 3. Robert Hamilton is a president of a Bank, while Stacy Hamilton is a stay at home mother. Justin is a senior, Sophia is a 7th grader, and Molly keeps her mom company at home.

The Family Experience

Group Reflection

Get to know us

Working Together

J

Participation

S

collecting all slides and putting together on prezi: Jenna

M

As a group we have come to the conclusion that good communication is the key to any success in this project. We struggled a little bit in the beginning with communicating, getting everyone involved, and being able to meet and discuss the project as a whole group. As weeks passed we finally found a solution to our problem with weekly meetings at same time every week.

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What our family as taught us

Budget: Calculations: Jenna, Veronica posted: Jenna

Life Cards

LC#1- Sydney

LC#2- Kelsey

LC #3- calculations: Jenna and Sydney Posted: Blanca

LC#4- Jessica: posted discussed as group

LC#5- posted: Sydney calculations: Sydney, Jenna

LC #6- posted: Mary Calculations: Jenna

Slides

Intro (2)- Sydney

Father- Veronica

Mother- Jessica

17 years old- Mary

12 years old- Blanca

3 years old- Kelsey

Lc#1- Veronica

Lc#2- Kelsey

Lc#3- Blanca

Lc#4- Jessica

Lc#5-Sydney

Lc#6- Mary

Impact- Kelsey

Reflection- Jenna

Budget- Jenna

Theory/ theorist- Kelsey

Participation sheet- Jenna, Sydney

Editing- Jenna

Creating the Hamilton family and guiding them through these tough life events has taught us many things. First, it is important to always put family first, doing everything possible to insure a stable future for their Children, and giving them the best life possible. Second, as an upper- middle class family, they were able to live within their means and still be able to put a substantial amount of their monthly income into savings. We had the privilege to pay are back taxes in one transaction and able to handle the pay cut without it rupturing our family’s usual spending. Whereas many other families wouldn’t be able to make such easy transitions through each life event without having to cut back and possibly having multiple jobs. We purposely planned for the Hamilton parents to be planners and savers. It illustrates how important family is to this couple, and that they can live within their means and still live a comfortable life with their family. Stacy and Robert planned their finances around what was best for their kids and family. The most important thing is this; no matter what class a family is from, when life throws curve balls doesn’t let it tear the family apart, but may such events strengthen the family bond and make each individual stronger.

The annual income of the Hamilton family is $312,500. They own a five bedroom three bath house built in 1976. They live comfortably on their income and are a very active family. Friday nights they go to the high school football games to support Justin on the field. They have church on Sundays along with family time, and every night they sit down at six thirty to have dinner as a family and talk about their days.

Jenna Barnes

Blanca Domingo

Jessica Lopez

Sydney Manley

Kelsey Major

Veronica Martinelli

Mary Hope Rodak