节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-09-18
难易度:Medium
关键字:adjust, havoc, occurrence, transfer, reflective
Hi, everybody.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
My name is Steve.
Thanks for joining us today.
This month's DO IT YOURSELF feature says we can change our financial futures
with a budget.
But I say sticking to a budget will change a lot more than just your finances.
Think about it.
If you can use a budget to help manage your finances, you can avoid the
stressful burden of debt, you can reduce worry about the future,
and you can have more say over how your money is spent.
But folks, I have to warn you, staying on a budget takes discipline.
Let's get some help with that with Changing Your Financial Future step number 3
on page 37.
(Music).
Changing Your Financial Future.
Stay on budget.
Once you have created your budget, stick to it by using the envelope method.
Prepare an envelope for each of your budget items.
Then you put your budget money into the envelopes so you can monitor your
spending througout the month.
Using the envelope method helps you control the pace of your spending.
It also makes it easier to adjust your budget so it is unrealistic and
reflective of your needs.
Hello, friends.
Thank you so much for joining us here in the studio.
My name is Kaylah.
And today I'm here with Ryan discussing finances.
That's right.
Oftentimes a lot of people end up spending a lot of money trying to have
financial planners help them plan how to spend their money.
But friends, we want to help you do it yourself.
That's right.
This is our DO IT YOURSELF article on how to plan for a better financial future.
Now we're going through four tips on how to better spend your money and save.
Ryan, what was our first tip yesterday?
OK. Our first tip was track your spending.
Find out where you are spending your money and how much.
You might be surprised.
That's right. You might be surprised.
So track it, keep a note on how much you're spending.
Write it down, and then you'll know.
Then use that information in our second tip, which is to make a budget.
OK. Plan how you want to spend your money.
Make your budget.
And now our next tip is stay on budget.
This, my friends, is the hard part - staying on your budget.
Once you have your money organized, you need to follow your budget; and this is
the hard part.
That's right.
Once you've created your budget, then you have to stick to it.
We've talked about that phrase yesterday.
That's right.
Stick to it, keep with it, stay on it, all of these mean the same thing.
OK. So how can they stick to it?
Well, first of all, once you've created your budget, stick to it by using the
envelope method.
Hmm, the envelope method.
OK. Well, I've never heard of this method before.
But we're going to try and help explain it to you.
First of all, an envelope is a piece of paper that is folded and usually
designed so you can put letters inside of it and mail it.
It's kind of like a paper pocket.
A little bit.
And so here this is named after an envelope.
It's a method.
And that is the way of doing something.
OK. So this method, this way of doing something, will use envelopes.
You can see a picture of an... envelope on page 37 in your Studio Classroom
magazine.
So how do we do this, Ryan?
OK. First, prepare an envelope, and you would need one for each of your budget
items.
OK. So each month, have an envelope per area.
So if you have a car, your insurance, food, clothes, entertainment, etc, then
you have all these different envelopes lined up.
Right.
Each of those are budget items - entertainment, food, all of those.
And so you have that many envelopes.
OK. So what do we do next?
Then put your budget money into the envelope so you can monitor your spending...
throughout the month.
So if you say half of my budget goes to my car, you take half of it, put it in
the car envelope.
And then maybe you only have $30 for a certain area, you put that in there.
Or a couple hundred in another, you put that into that envelope.
So your money is actually physically split up.
OK. That's actually a good idea.
Now friends, maybe you use online banking or you use your smartphone for your
spending, and so you can't actually use real envelopes.
Well, many banks actually have tools built into their website that will help you
do the same thing.
How exactly do you use this method, Kaylah?
Well, using the envelope method helps you control the pace of your spending.
This is the advantage of it.
If you look in your envelope and you see there's only a few dollars left, you
might not buy that cup of coffee.
Instead save it for lunch later in the month.
OK. Yeah, it will help you pace your spending.
If you're pacing something, that means you are adjusting the speed of it.
So maybe you can slow down how much you're spending.
I know it's easy at the beginning of the month.
When your money shows up, you're like: Yay! I can spend it.
Pace yourself.
You need to make sure that you have money saved for the end of the month.
OK. Now doing this also makes it easier to adjust your budget so it is
realistic.
That's right.
You need to adjust to make sure this works.
To "adjust" means you change something just a little bit to make it more correct
or more effective.
So you want to make sure your budget is working.
So adjust, then you can make it more realistic.
And that's important.
Yeah, OK.
So here Kaylah, we're seeing using this envelope method helps you know how much
you're spending and adjust your spending.
But it also helps you adjust your budget because sometimes you need more money.
That's right.
And it needs to be reflective of your needs.
And "reflective" means it shows or expresses what you need.
Well, we have one more tip for you after today's skit.
So how is your financial future?
OK. I'm on the right track... uh, I think.
Did you track your spending?
Yes. I have a list right here.
Oh. That's a very long list.
Yes. I'm shocked at how much I spend.
Me too.
So did you make a budget?
Yes. It's... right here.
Excellent! You're on the right track.
But I'm having a little trouble.
Trouble?
Yes.
Trouble sticking to my budget.
Then it's time to begin step 3.
What's step 3?
It's the envelope method.
The envelope method?
Yes. Put your money into envelopes.
It's a great way to monitor your spending.
So I only spend money that's in the envelopes?
Yes. That will help you control the pace of your spending.
Right.
And it will be easier to adjust, making it realistic, make it reflect your
needs.
Oh. Now I'm on the right track for sure.
Yes. But wait.
What if you have an unexpected expense?
Yeah, yeah. What if I have an unexpected expense, one that has no envelope?
You need step 4 - an emergency fund.
Set up a special bank account for emergencies only.
OK. But how much money will I need?
Save enough to cover three to six months of living expenses.
That's a lot!
Make it part of your budget.
Then you'll be on your way.
Yeah, prosperous financial future, here I come!