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Personal Management Merit Badge

The ten requirements, with the thirteen-week budget chain drawn first and the four requirements of pure explanation grouped so their size is visible.

11 steps (53 parts inside them). 8 parts depend on questions you have not answered yet. · Version 1, published 13 August 2026 · About Personal Management Merit Badge

No questions answered

This is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering the question at the address above takes out the parts that are not for you.

Which of this applies to you

You have not answered anything yet, so this is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering one question will take out the parts that are not for you.

Answer the questions

The steps

Stage 1 of 7

2 steps

1. Plan a major family purchase Requirement

Pick the item first: everything else in this requirement is about that item.
8 parts
- 1(a). Choose the item
- 1(b). Write a plan for saving up for it Usually comes after 1(a). Choose the item.
- 1(b)(1). Discuss the plan with your counselor
- 1(b)(2). Discuss the plan with your family
- 1(b)(3). Account for the family's other needs
- 1(c). Write a shopping strategy for it Usually comes after 1(a). Choose the item.
- 1(c)(1). Judge the quality
- 1(c)(2). Comparison shop it
2. Budget thirteen weeks, then live them Often forgotten Requirement

The long one, and the one whose order is fixed. The budget comes before the period it budgets for.

Thirteen consecutive weeks is what decides how long this badge takes. Everything else on this page is a few evenings. Start it first and work through the rest while it runs.
6 parts
- 2(a). Write a budget for thirteen consecutive weeks Often forgotten Write this before the thirteen weeks start. Requirement 2(c) tracks the SAME thirteen-week period, and 2(d) compares the two, so a budget written after the event has nothing to be a prediction of. This is the mistake that costs a Scout three months, and it is invisible until the counselor asks for the comparison.
- 2(b). Compare expected income with expected expenses
- 2(b)(1). If it does not balance, work out how to balance it
- 2(b)(2). If there is a surplus, decide what it is for
- 2(c). Track the same thirteen weeks as they happen Often forgotten Usually comes after 2(a). Write a budget for thirteen consecutive weeks.
- 2(d). Compare the budget with what really happened Usually comes after 2(c). Track the same thirteen weeks as they happen.

Stage 2 of 7

2 steps

3. Discuss five of these eight Requirement

How money actually behaves on you, rather than how it works in theory. Five of the eight below.
8 parts
- 3(a). How it feels to receive money Optional May not apply
- 3(b). How much you carry changes how you spend Optional May not apply
- 3(c). New purchases, three months later Optional May not apply
- 3(d). Shopping hungry Optional May not apply
- 3(e). Whether the advertisement was true Optional May not apply
- 3(f). What happens to money in a savings account Optional May not apply
- 3(g). Charitable giving Optional May not apply
- 3(h). What you could do better Optional May not apply
8. Plan a week, live it, then review it Requirement

Requirement 2 in miniature, and it runs for seven days. The schedule comes before the week, not after.
4 parts
- 8(a). Write a to-do list in order of importance
- 8(b). Build a seven-day schedule around your fixed commitments Usually comes after 8(a). Write a to-do list in order of importance.
- 8(c). Live the week and keep a daily journal Usually comes after 8(b). Build a seven-day schedule around your fixed commitments.
- 8(d). Review all three with your counselor Usually comes after 8(c). Live the week and keep a daily journal.

Stage 3 of 7

2 steps

4. Saving against investing Requirement

Five explanations to your counselor. No part of this depends on any other.
5 parts
9. Write a project plan on paper Document

Deliberately not a real project. A camping trip, a service project, a school or religious event, or an annual patrol plan: planned properly and then discussed with your counselor.
5 parts

Stage 4 of 7

2 steps

5. Six ways to hold money Requirement

What each is and how each works.
6 parts
10. Cost out a career Requirement

Two parts: what it takes, and what it costs to get there.
2 parts
- 10(a). Choose a career and find out what it needs
- 10(b). Work out what getting there costs

Stage 5 of 7

1 step

6. Four kinds of insurance Requirement

Why somebody would buy each, and how each works.
4 parts

Stage 6 of 7

1 step

7. Borrowing, and what it costs Requirement

Five explanations, and between them the most expensive mistakes on this page.
5 parts

Stage 7 of 7

1 step

Counselor signs it off Milestone

The completion date is the date you met the requirements, not the date of the signature.

Usually comes after 2. Budget thirteen weeks, then live them and 10. Cost out a career.

Merit badge requirements are republished annually. A Scout beginning work uses the requirements as they stand then; a Scout already working may finish under the ones they started with. Guide to Advancement 7.0.4.3 governs which applies. This page records the date its copy was read. Check it against the official page before relying on it.

This plan is a planning aid: the current Boy Scouts of America publication is always the authority, and the sources used here are listed in full. Each step names its own.