Making The Most of Your Money
Making The Most of Your Money
Making The Most of Your Money
LEVEL 6TH
For young people –from high school students who are given allowances from their parents or who are already doing
part-time jobs to college graduates walking out into the world- learning to plan their budgets is a very important skill.
And in many cases, it means taking the simple advice that parents give them.
For example: save up to 10% of your income before anything else. If you are already working, don’t spend your pay
rise as soon as you get it, put it into savings. If you are living away from home, learn to cook and never borrow money
to pay for something which goes down in value quickly, like a car.
However, remember that saving is a lot easier if there are small rewards along the way. Don’t deprive yourself of
daily treats like a coffee or a drink with a friend. Otherwise, life seems dull and boring and saving is that much more
difficult. And there’s something nice: find a partner and stay together. Studies show that two can live more cheaply
than one-and that divorce is the great destroyer of wealth.
But there’s another important issue to consider. There may be a debate among economists about how much 50 and
60 years old should be saving- but there is little dispute about how much the young should save: more. Saving whilst
young is important, and not just because of the power of compounding. Compounding means that if you start saving
now, it will build to a larger amount by the time you are 65 than if you wait to start at 45. Or to put it another way,
you can save a smaller amount now rather than a larger amount later.
Another good reason to get into the habit of saving is that people who save a lot get used to a lower rate of
consumption while working, so less money is needed in retirement. Stretching to save a little more yields a double
dividend: you accumulate more and you lower the amount you will need in retirement because you will not have the
habit of spending extravagantly to feel fulfilled.
A regular habit of savings costs your very little each week. You easily wasted that money last week on things you
cannot even recall this week. A useful exercise proves the point: for a week, list everywhere you spend cash. Could
you save another 10 percent a week? If you can, you are on the right toad to saving.
LISTENING
Listen to the recording. Choose the best option A, B or C for each question.