节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-09-17
难易度:Medium
关键字:finances, prosperous, analyze, estimate, on track
Hello, everybody.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to study English with us.
My name is Steve.
Well, it may start as a child when you get a weekly allowance from your parents.
Or it may start when you get your first part-time job.
Regardless of when it happens, there will come a point in each of our lives when
we need to make choices about how we handle our money.
Sorry to say, some of us aren't very good at making financial decisions.
We live from paycheck to paycheck.
Maybe we don't save anything, or we think having a huge monthly credit card
balance is OK.
Well, if I just described you, then stick around for today's lesson: Changing
Your Financial Future, on page 36.
(Music).
Changing Your Financial Future.
Four simple steps to help you make and stick to a budget.
Are your spending habits doing you more harm than good?
Getting control of your daily finances is an important part of personal
financial management.
If you struggle with budgeting, these four steps will put you on track to a more
prosperous future.
Track your spending.
How much money did you spend on coffee and entertainment last month?
Most people have no idea where most of their money goes, so finding out can be a
life-changing experience.
Hello, friends.
Thank you for joining us.
My name is Ryan.
And my name is Kaylah.
And today we are looking at it - DO IT YOURSELF.
How can you do something to make your life better?
Well, what are we doing today to better ourselves, Ryan?
OK. Today we want to know how to change your financial future.
Oh. Changing Your Financial Future.
Financial, of course we know, refers to your money, your finances.
That's how you are earning and spending and saving money.
Now how can you change your future?
How are you going to make it so it's better?
OK. Well friends, we are going to give you four simple steps to help you make
and stick to a budget.
Ooh... a budget.
Those can be hard to stick to for sure.
Now let's find out what a budget is.
How would you define a budget?
OK. A budget is a list of the money that you plan to spend and the money you
earn and how much you will have left over.
So you need to plan how you're going to spend and save your money.
And it can be difficult to stick to sometimes.
I think the key word to this is plan.
To budget means you are planning how your money will be made and spent so that
you have enough saved.
Well, this is hard.
Ryan, you said it's hard to stick to it.
When you stick to something, that means you are committed to doing it and you do
not stop.
And... it is, Ryan, it is very hard to stick to a budget.
For a lot of people, saving money can be difficult because we just don't know
how to stick to the plan that we already have.
All right, friends.
We've got a few questions for you:
Are you... are your spending habits doing you more harm than good?
This is a good question, your spending habit.
Now to spend, we know, means to be using your money.
And a habit is something you do over and over and over and over and over again.
So are you spending your money good or bad?
Yeah. Is it harming you or is it helping you?
For I know for many of us, we often spend more money than we want to.
Well, getting control of your daily finances is an important part of personal
finance.
OK. Personal finance.
"Finances" is the way you provide money for something that is going to happen.
We've talked about that.
To earn and spend money is your finances.
Now your daily finances, then, are how you earn and spend every day; and
"personal" means your life, not your company.
OK. And personal financial management is important for all of us.
The word "management," of course, means to have control over something.
And you should have control over your spending.
That's right.
And even if you work for a company that is good with their finances, friends,
you need to be financially responsible, too, to manage your money wisely.
So if you struggle with budgeting, these tips are going to help put you on track
to a more prosperous future.
OK. Now Kaylah, we're talking about being "on track" here.
And I've seen of the word "track" used before for like trains, something that
trains follow.
What does this phrase mean?
This means to make progress and be more likely to succeed.
So the way that relates to like a train track means you are on a line and you
don't change.
You have a goal and you're working towards it continuously, not getting off.
So being on track means you're headed there correctly.
OK. And of course, you want to have a "prosperous" future.
That means it is successful.
You have everything that you are trying to get.
That's right.
And we do, friends, we want you to be prosperous.
We would like you to have a great financial future, which is why these four tips
are made to help keep you on track to that prosperous future.
OK. Let's take a look, friends, at our first tip.
The first one here is: Track your spending.
Track your spending.
Now here's that word "track" again.
Ryan, does this mean the same thing?
No, Kaylah, not at all.
This here means to manage and watch, basically watch what is happening and make
sure you are staying in control of it.
A good way to track anything really is to write it down.
If you are using a bank book or if you have a document on your computer,
make sure you take your receipts and write down how much you are spending and
keep track of it,
so you know how much you're spending and where you should not spend as much.
Maybe if you'd like to save money, you could stop doing certain things.
But first you need to know what is taking up most of your money; and tracking
spending is the best way to do that.
OK. So how much money did you spend on coffee and entertainment last month?
If you don't know or if you have no idea, then maybe you should start tracking
your spending.
Well, most people have no idea where most of their money goes.
So you may think, well, most of my money goes to my child's education or to my
college fund or to my savings account.
But maybe you're wrong.
Maybe you don't know how much you're spending on other things.
Especially things like entertainment, those kinds of things can be more
expensive than you realize.
Or buying a coffee every day!
So most people don't know where their money goes, so finding out can be a
life-changing experience.
Find out, then you can change the way you are living to help your financial
future be better.
Right. We see life-changing experience.
That is something that affects you so much that, well, it changes your life.
That's right.
It changes everything.
Friends, we have more tips and a little bit more about this tracking your
spending after we watch today's skit.
(Music).
(Background Noise).
What are you doing here?
I'm here to put you on track to a more prosperous financial future.
Don't worry about me.
I'm very careful with my money.
Actually, your spending habits are doing more harm than good.
More harm than good?
That's right.
You need to get control of your daily finances.
Daily finances?
That's not important.
Oh. Yes, it is.
Daily finances are part of personal financial management.
Maybe you're right.
Sometimes I do struggle with budgeting.
If you want a prosperous financial future...
I do, I do!
Then these four steps will put you on track.
OK.
What's the first step?
Track your spending.
Well, I already do.
When I buy a new car or computer, I write it down.
And track every purchase.
Coffee, entertainment, everything, and write it down.
Everything?
Everything.
It makes you aware of your spending.
Then you can analyze it and have move to step 2.
OK. What's step 2?
Make a realistic budget.
A realistic budget.
All right.
List all your major spending areas - food, clothes, entertainment...
OK.
Oh, no!
What's wrong?
I'm shocked!
Look at how much I spend.
I thought so.