Views #795 | Low-Intermediate 4

Personal Finance

Anitia talks about savings, retirement, and sharing money in a marriage.

Todd: Anita, I thought we would talk about money and investments.

Anita: OK.

Todd: So, you're pretty young.

Anita: Yes.

Todd: And how old are you?

Anita: I am 23.

Todd: 23, so that's very young. So as a young person, do you think about your future and saving and retirement?

Anita: I think about my immediate future. I'm not too worried about my retirement just yet, simply because I think you never know : will you retire? will you not retire? I mean, sometimes people get so caught up planning for retirement and saving money for retirement and they don't get to enjoy their life.

Todd: Right. But I think, like, I'm getting older. I'm 37 right, so...

Anita: That's still young.

Todd: It's still fairly young, but I think everybody that's my age wishes we had started saving when we were your age.

Anita: I agree. I agree. I'm not thinking about retirement but I'm definitely thinking about my immediate future. What will I do after university? Because right now, I'm a graduate student. When I was an undergraduate, I never thought about saving. I just was worried about paying monthly bills, paying my rent, things like that, so I was worried about having enough money to pay the current expenses. I wasn't worried about savings, but now that I'm a graduate student and I'm about to finish my education, I have to think about what will I do after university. Where will I go? If I look for a job, maybe I will have to travel somewhere. Maybe there will be a period of time when I will not have a job, so that, yes, I am worried about, so right now I'm thinking about savings for that part of my life.

Todd: Now, Anita, you're married, correct?

Anita: Yes.

Todd: So is finances something that you normally talk with your husband or is it something that you still are used to doing separately and independently?

Anita: No, no, no. We have joint accounts. Any financial things we discuss.

Todd: Right, yeah, cause I think especially with marriage, that's probably always one of the main things is money.

Anita: You see, for me personally, I don't think how I could... I cannot imagine that I would be married to somebody and have two separate bank accounts: one for him and one for me. I don't think that would work for me personally.

Todd: Yeah, it does actually sound strange.

Anita: Because then, think about it, if you go for dinner with your husband, who pays?

Todd: Right.

Anita: And if it's him paying all the time, well that's not fair towards him, so I think once you're in the marriage together, once you're doing everything together, you might as well be saving and spending together as well.

Todd: You're right. That makes perfect sense, but I think in the U.S. nowadays it's common now for couples to have separate checking accounts.

Anita: It is and, even my parents had that for awhile. I personally don't like it because to me it seems like a back door. If somebody had two accounts and their married to me it's a way of saying, "I love you and I'm married to you, but just in case something happens to us, I've got my own account to depend on.

Todd: Great point.

Anita: And to me, personally, I will do my upmost best for my relationship not to get to that point, so because I am not even taking that into consideration, I'm not acting that way right now.

Todd: Well said.

Learn vocabulary from the lesson!

immediate future

image

I think about my immediate future.

The 'immediate future' is the term that is used to describe what is about to happen very soon.

Notice the following:

  1. I never really plan too far ahead. I tend to think only about my immediate future.
  2. The immediate future seemed bleak.

just yet

image

I'm not too worried about my retirement just yet.

'Just yet' is another way to say 'now' or 'right now.'

Notice the following:

  1. I can't go to school just yet, as I need to make sure that I have all the grades I need to get in
  2. I can't go out just yet, as I have lots of work that I need to do first.

get so caught up

image

Sometimes people get so caught up planning for retirement and saving money for retirement and they don't get to enjoy their life.

When you 'get caught up' doing something, you are so focused on what you are doing that you don't pay attention to other things around you.

Notice the following:

  1. I get so caught up on the phone with my friends that I often forget about the phone bill.
  2. I got so caught up at dinner that I was late meeting my friend.

current expenses

image

I was worried about having enough money to pay the current expenses.

'Current expenses' are the bills and living costs that you have to pay for right now, not in the future.

Notice the following:

  1. I have to work out all of my current expenses, and then I will be able to sort out a budget.
  2. Do you have a list of the businesses current expenses?

joint accounts

image

We have joint accounts and any financial things we discuss.

When people have 'joint accounts,' it means that they share a bank account and pool all of their money into it.

Notice the following:

  1. I do not agree with joint accounts.
  2. I am not sure if I would like a joint account again, as I do not like anyone knowing what I spend my money on.

Vocabulary Quiz

immediate • just yet • caught up
expenses • account
  1. We aren't saving much money right now, because most of what we make goes toward current .
  2. We have a joint for the things we buy together, and separate accounts for the things we try to hide from each other.
  3. I don't know what time our flight arrives , but I will let you know as soon as I find out.
  4. They are probably so with their new baby that they aren't thinking about much else.
  5. When you are young, you think mostly about the future.
Answer the following questions about the interview.

Keep Listening

Below are some more great lessons!


795 Money
795 Personal Finance
Anitia talks about savings, retirement, and money.

794 Homework
794 Homework debate
Fred and Todd debate doing homework.

793 University
793 Public or Private
Fred and Todd compare colleges in three countries.

792 Art
792 Art
Shona discusses her own artwork.

791 Artists
791 Favorite Artist
Shona discusses three artists she likes.
 

 

Free Courses from ELLLO

One Minute English Videos

Free Courses from ELLLO