Let's go surfing

Sam’s at high school, he lives with his parents on a dairy farm and he works with his father milking the cows every morning and night. It’s hard work but he earns great money – about $380 a month, which is a lot more than most of the other kids he goes to school with.

Sam loves having the money. He’s really into his music and he spends most of his wages on CDs. His collection runs into the hundreds.

Sam is earning enough money to save up a decent amount and give himself some real choices, but because he’s blowing his money each week in the CD shop, he never has any money left over. He needs to get sorted.

So Sam sits down and works out some goals. He singles out two things he’ll need serious money for in the next two years. First, he wants to go with his mate Mike and his family to Bali (wicked surf in Bali) – that’s in six months time and he’ll need $2,000. Second, he wants a car. Not any old bomb, but a decent car worth a few grand. He’s patient enough to wait a couple of years to get it.

Sam sets a goal of buying only one CD a month and putting $80 a week in a savings account. He calculates that he will have the $2,000 and after two years will have $6,500 – enough to buy the car he wants.