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Citizenship & SocietyEagle Required

Personal Management Merit Badge

Budgeting, goal-setting, and a hands-on personal project tracked over 90 days — one of the most involved badges.

⏱Typical time to complete: 90 days minimum

Good fit if you like

Leadership

Tips for Earning This Badge

  • 1Start the 90-day financial tracking project on day one — this badge literally cannot be completed in under three months.
  • 2This is the badge most scouts wish they had started earlier. Put it on your schedule as soon as you hit First Class.
  • 3Track every purchase and income source honestly, even small ones. The point is the habit, not the amounts.
  • 4The goal-setting project runs concurrently with the budget tracking — set a meaningful, measurable goal at the start.
  • 5Counselors want to see the tracking log itself, filled in consistently — a summary written from memory at the end is easy to spot and not what is asked for.
  • 6A common pitfall: scouts who are strong at school but treat the 90 days casually because it does not feel like "real" schoolwork. It is graded on consistency, not effort in any one week.

Official Requirements

We keep this page focused on tips and what to expect, not a copy of the requirement text — requirements get revised periodically, and scouts are generally held to whichever version was current when they started the badge (the same reason Scoutbook lets you filter by pamphlet version). For the exact, current wording, check your Scoutbook record for this badge or the official page below.

Personal Management on scouting.org ↗

Finding a Counselor

Ask your Scoutmaster for the council's merit badge counselor list. For popular badges, a parent in your troop may already be registered as a counselor. If your troop doesn't have one, your council's advancement chair can help connect you.

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