Live Lesson Notes
Personal Finance
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What you will learn in this worksheet:
Useful links
Useful vocabulary
Discussion about investment
Idioms to talk about personal finance
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IELTS Speaking Vocabulary: Money and Finance
“Financial literacy is the confident understanding of concepts
including saving, investing and debt”
Here is some useful vocabulary to talk confidently on the IELTS
Speaking topic of Money and Personal Finance
A budget (n.)
I make a monthly budget
I live on a budget of 500 USD per month
To go/be over budget = to spend more than you planned
I have gone over budget this month
To budget (v.) = to allocate money for something
I will need to budget for a new kitchen this year
budget (adj.) = cheap, economical, low price
We have booked a budget hotel
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To save (for retirement)
1) to keep money
To save up
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I am saving up to buy a new laptop
I am saving up for a new car
2) to spend less
If you buy in bulk (=buy a lot at one time) you save money
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To invest (in something) (v.)
I like to invest in stocks and shares
I invest a lot of time and energy in learning English
Investment (n.) Countable or uncountable
An investor (person)
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To earn money
To make money
Have a salary (monthly payment)
Have a wage (weekly payment)
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Finance (n.) uncountable
Financial (adj.)
planning
security
freedom
literacy
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IELTS Discussion: Investments
An investment is where you buy something and you expect to grow in
value. Here are some things to consider when talking about investments
High risk versus low risk
Long-term versus short-term
Volatile versus stable
A key guiding principle of investing is the following:
"Only invest money you can afford to lose”
Investing is about risks and here are some more related collocations:
• Take calculated risks
• Manage the risk well
• Balance high risk and low risk investments
Get a good return on your investment (ROI)
Which is the best investment?
1. Works of Art
2. Cryptocurrencies (e.g. Bitcoin)
3. Stocks
4. Gold
5. Savings account (bank)
6. Real Estate (property / houses)
I think gold is a a safe haven and a good store of value
Stocks are fairly stable and can pay off in the long term
You make a quick win with cryptocurrencies, but it is a volatile market
I would invest in real estate because it tends not to depreciate (=fall in
value)
A saving account is stable but the interest rate is so low. That said, it
could be a good long-term investment.
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IELTS Speaking Idioms about Money and Finance
To be on a shoestring budget = with little money to spend
To be on a tight budget = with little money to spend
To tighten your belt = to be careful with spending money
We don’t have much money, so we need to tighten out belts this month
To make ends meet = to cope, survive (financially)
It’s hard to make ends meet at the end of the month
To be hard up = to have little money (temporarily)
I’m a hard at the moment and can’t afford to go to the pub
To be broke = to have no money left
To get by = to cope, survive
I can get by until my next pay cheque
A juggling act = something that is difficult to balance
Controlling monthly budgets is a juggling act
Once bitten, twice shy! = A proverb meaning when you try something
for the first time and it doesn’t work, the second time you are less likely
to try it.
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