hi I'm kasha welcome to Oxford online
English in this lesson you're going to
learn how to talk about money in English
you'll learn useful English words and
phrases to talk about common money
topics such as your spending habits
salary borrowing money and more but wait
is it okay to talk about money maybe you
heard someone say that it can be rude to
talk about money in the UK or in the
u.s. sometimes it's not appropriate for
example it's generally not acceptable to
ask someone how much they earn however
people talk about money all the time
in this lesson you'll see how to talk
about money in a natural way in English
you're going on holiday again how can
you afford it I can barely pay my rent
each month well I've been saving up for
it how do you do it I make a budget for
each week so I decide how much I can
spend and what I can spend money on that
way I know how much I'll say but how
does it work I'm pretty careful with my
money but I find it really difficult to
save much it's the little expenses that
add up you buy a bottle of water here a
sandwich there a takeaway pizza in the
evening they don't cost much but over
time you end up spending more than you
realize I guess you're right but how do
you stick to it don't you just want to
have a takeaway pizza once in a while
ask yourself which would you rather have
most people waste a lot of money on
things they don't really want I really
love travelling so I'm happy to cut back
on some less important things so that I
can pay for it you're right but I don't
think I could be that frugal I'm not a
big spender or anything but I really
enjoy splashing out and treating myself
occasionally here's a question can you
name three things you can do with money
you heard a lot of useful phrases in the
dialogue of course you can spend money
you can also save money or waste money
you spend money on something for example
I don't spend much on food he spends a
lot of money on gadgets and technology
how much do you spend on rent every
month you can use waste money in the
same way they waste a lot of money on
things they don't need someone who
spends a lot is a big spender the
opposite someone who spends very little
money is frugal these words are neutral
they don't have positive or negative
associations
what about save money
you can save for something or you can
save to do something often instead of
saying save money you can use the
phrasal verb save up which has the same
meaning
for example I'm saving up for a holiday
next year we're saving up to buy a car
in order to save money you can make a
budget you make a spending plan and
write down everything you spend so that
you stick to your plan if you're saving
for something you might need to cut back
on other things
meaning that you spend less than usual
on the other hand some people aren't so
good at saving some people like to
splash out they spend money on things
they enjoy you can also treat yourself
by spending more money than you usually
would in order to do something nice for
yourself what about you are you a big
spender or are you more frugal do you
find it easy to make a budget and save
money or do you like to splash out and
treat yourself think about these
questions and how you could answer them
if you aren't sure remember that you can
go back and review the dialogue and the
explanations again let's move on
so I'm thinking of moving to London I
got a job offer but I'm not sure about
the salary it sounds good but I've heard
London is expensive so I'm not sure I
guess it depends on your lifestyle but
you definitely need more than in other
places my friends who live in London all
make decent money but they don't have
much left over at the end of the month
mostly they're just getting by
they offered me 25 K that would be okay
in most places I've lived but I'm not
sure I'll be able to make ends meet in
London
they'll be challenging that's on the low
side for sure put it this way I know
someone who makes around 45 K and she
says she struggles in London anywhere
else you'd be very well off making that
sort of money hmm
I guess I'll look for something better
in most english-speaking countries
people talk about annual salaries the
amount you make each year also it's
normal to talk about the amount before
tax for example 25k in the dialogue
means twenty-five thousand pounds per
year before tax in case you're wondering
the average salary in London is around
twenty nine thousand pounds per year
while the average cost of living for a
family of four is around four thousand
pounds per month assuming a comfortable
but fairly basic lifestyle if your
salary is higher than average you can
say you make good money or make decent
money in this case you'll probably be
well-off not rich but with enough money
to have a nice lifestyle and not worry
about money on the other hand if you
only just make enough to cover your
costs you can say you're just getting by
this means that you have enough money to
live but not much more if you say I'm
just getting by it suggests you don't
have a lot of extra money to spend
on eating in restaurants going out
traveling and so on for example I don't
earn a lot but I get by meaning I make
enough to pay all my bills but I don't
have much spare money
if someone doesn't even make enough to
cover their basic expenses like rent
builds food and transport then they are
struggling you can also use the phrase
make ends meet which you heard in the
dialogue do you know what it means make
ends meet means to cover all of your
expenses let's see some examples I can
barely make ends meet he's struggling to
make ends meet I don't know how we'd
make ends meet if we had another child
if you say that someone can barely make
ends meet you mean that they don't earn
much money and so it's difficult for
them to pay all their bills and cover
their regular expenses what salary do
you need to make to get by where you
live how much does someone need to make
to be well-off think about these
questions and how you would answer them
let's look at the next section
did you hear he might lose his house he
told me he's six months behind on his
mortgage payments seriously I knew he
wasn't dead but I had no idea it was
that bad
he has other loans too apparently the
car the furniture everything was bought
on credit he has three or four credit
cards all maxed out he owes a lot of
money what's he going to do well he
can't even keep up with the interest let
alone the actual repayments they'll have
to declare bankruptcy but he'll lose
everything that's awful
of course he should have been more
responsible but but how could they lend
him so much money they must have known
he wouldn't be able to pay it back I
don't know it's a bad situation when you
borrow money from the bank you take out
a loan if you're borrowing money to buy
a house or an apartment there's a
special word for it mortgage the
spelling is strange so practice the
pronunciation mortgage you need to repay
a loan generally you do this by making
payments every month some of the
payments is interest an extra percentage
which you pay to the bank when you
finish paying back alone you pay it off
if you have a lot of loans then you're
in debt this means you owe money in the
dialogue you heard the phrase he owes a
lot of money let's look at some more
examples with this language it will take
us another 10 years to pay off our
mortgage the interest on our car loan is
ridiculously high I never borrow money I
don't like being in debt in the dialogue
we were talking about someone who had
bought a lot of things on credit if you
buy something on
crédit you take out a loan just to buy
this one thing we also mentioned that he
has maxed out credit cards you max out a
credit card when you borrow the maximum
amount you can on it finally if you
can't pay back your debts you'll have to
declare bankruptcy your debts are
cancelled but you also lose anything you
have which is worth money so think about
some questions have you ever taken out a
loan or bought something on credit in
your country if someone is in a lot of
debt can you declare bankruptcy what
happens to the money they owe again
think about how you would answer these
questions and review the dialogue and
the explanations if you need to ready to
move on let's talk about one more thing
can I tell you something what I'm so
excited
I'm gonna be rich really how's that I
found this article online it told me
about all of these shares which are
definitely going to go up very soon I
bought as many as I could now I just
have to sit back and wait for the money
to come rolling in are you sure about
this how much did you put in all the
savings I had and are you sure that's a
good idea
why not these shares will take off and
I'll double or triple my money it's easy
what if they go down you could lose
everything it's not likely these
companies are solid it's a one-way bet
so which companies did you invest in
well one was and then okay so I can't
actually remember the names but it's
very exciting stuff biotech you know oh
really
well good luck you can buy me dinner
when you have made your first million
deal what can you do with your savings
you can keep them in the bank in a
savings account but you won't earn much
interest alternatively you can invest in
something like shares bonds or funds you
can say shares or stocks both have the
same meaning you say stock market but in
other cases share is more common you can
invest in or put money into something
more informally you can also get into
something for example do you think I
should get into crypto he put half of
his savings into government bonds
you should only invest in shares if you
know what you're buying when you buy an
asset like a share or a bond
it's price can go up or down if it goes
up very far or fast you can say it takes
off if it goes down very fast it crashes
for example I bought Apple shares in
1989
I knew they'd take off one day they lost
a lot of money when the stock market
crashed in 2008 if you do well you might
double or triple your money
triple means you increase something
three times for example if you turn a
hundred dollars into $300 if you don't
do well you could lose everything or get
wiped out if you get wiped out you lose
all of the money you invested let's look
at some example sentences if you make
seven percent a year you can double your
money in ten years he put his life
savings into n1 shares then got
completely wiped out if you had savings
to invest what would you invest in think
about how you would answer finally we
have one more question for you some
people say that money can't buy
happiness do you agree with this idea
let us know your thoughts in the
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watching see you next time