Hello, hello, lovely, and welcome into IELTS Speaking Part 3.
We are discussing money, buying things, materialism.
So let's focus, dear listener, focus.
Let's talk about buying things in general and money.
Music Do people buy things they don't need?
I suppose it's easy to say yes, given all the things people buy that don't seem strictly necessary, like big TVs or the latest smartphones and gadgets, when the older ones work just fine.
But I doubt people would buy things unless they felt like they needed them, even beyond a purely material level.
And why?
Why is that?
Oh, lots of reasons.
They might have been manipulated by marketing ploys just into thinking the things they get are things they cannot do without.
Or they may feel insecure because people around them have things which are better and they want to feel in the loop.
No one likes being left out, do they?
And of course, maybe these things are actually necessary.
Like I absolutely need a smartphone for my work in this day and age.
I actually cannot function if it's not there.
So that's quite an important consideration as well.
Do you think it's important to save money?
I suppose that depends on your goals in life.
But generally speaking, it's a good idea to have at least some money squirreled away for a rainy day.
Like when someone or something goes horribly wrong and you have to fix something in an emergency.
And of course, many people want to retire one day and that involves some kind of saving as well.
And why else might it be important?
Not sure, really.
Maybe there are some knock-on effects of having a saver's mindset like planning and self-control and self-discipline.
But if you're saving, those things should already exist to some extent, so maybe you're just developing them.
Who do you think saves more money, men or women?
I'm tempted to say men, just because in married households I think women make something like 80 of the major purchasing choices.
So that means that women would spend more money.
But that's just talking about married people.
Probably, if they're not married and they're living their own lives, then men and women will spend and save equal amounts, because they don't really need significantly different things for the most part do they.
Why do many people derive pleasure from spending money?
Lots of reasons.
I think there's some kind of thing that happens in your brain or your cognition where you anticipate getting the reward, the reward being the thing that you want to buy.
And in pursuing that reward, It makes you feel good.
And then, of course, you get the thing and that allows you to enjoy life a bit more, ostensibly.
So that could also give people a great deal of pleasure as well.
I don't think it's the actual spending of the money.
I think it's the achievement of the goal, or being able to do the thing that you want to do with the thing that you bought.
What do you think young people usually spend most of their money on?
You'd have to ask them.
At a guess, I imagine they.
Well, just since they crave novelty more than most, they'll invest in the means to get access to that.
So things like smartphones and related gadgets probably take up the majority of their budgets.
They're also, well, at least they seem very health conscious.
So maybe things like gym memberships too?
Do you think the government should let people know how it spends their money?
Well, if it's collected their money through taxes, then yes.
I mean, that's part of being accountable and it reinforces the legitimacy of the system.
If you can see that the money is being spent in responsible ways, or if you see it's being spent irresponsibly, you can address that to prevent it from happening, perhaps recoup some of the lost money as well.
So that's quite important.
Of course, if you don't care about having a system being presented legitimately in that way, then it's not really a priority.
But certainly in I think almost all of the countries I have ever lived in, the government is pretty transparent about that kind of thing.
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People usually buy things they don't need.
Yes, that's true.
Lots of people do that.
So they buy, they purchase things.
And usually people buy big TVs, the latest smartphones.
So not the last smartphones, but the latest.
Like the latest models, the newest ones. smartphones and gadgets.
Like, do they really need them?
Or can they just use their old phone?
And you can say I doubt.
I doubt?
I doubt, you know.
I doubt.
That's it.
I have many doubts.
I doubt that people really need the things they get.
And then like why?
What are the reasons?
Why do people buy things they don't need?
You can say lots of reasons, lots of, like a lot of reasons.
People are manipulated by marketing ploys.
What are marketing ploys?
Those are marketing techniques which are used to encourage people to buy things.
So, for example, if you show someone with a phone and you show them being successful, then that means if they, or implies if they have the phone, then you will be a successful person and you must have the phone.
But that is not true, obviously.
That's just something that marketing does to try to make you buy things.
Yeah, dear listener, a ploy is something about dishonesty.
So it's a trick, which is not good.
And a marketing ploy is a phrase, right?
That means that something you know dishonest, they tell you lies right.
They trick you into buying things.
Like, get this cream and your face will shine, you know.
So people... are usually manipulated by marketing ploys.
People are manipulated by somebody.
And people are manipulated by marketing ploys into buying things, into thinking that they need these things.
And people start believing they can't do without such things.
But that's not necessarily true.
Unless it is about something that we are selling you, in which case you absolutely must have it.
No, the podcast.
Yeah, yeah.
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And people usually buy things not to feel left out.
So we get smartphones, we get certain clothes, right, certain gadgets to be together with people.
So people don't like being left out.
So people don't want to be left out.
So that's why they get things that most people have.
And also kind of because of emotions, people buy things to get dopamine hits, right?
So it kind of gives them pleasure, just shopping nonstop.
Doesn't matter what you buy.
Thank heavens none of us is like that, eh, Maria?
No, no, we kind of control our emotions and yeah, we don't overeat.
No, no, no.
We just, you know, sleep, drink water.
We never buy crazy things.
No, no, never, never.
We never buy crazy things.
I have never spent hundreds of pounds on sunglasses before.
No, no.
Yeah, I have like an old laptop, an old phone, you know.
Yeah, a couple of new shoes, but that doesn't count.
Right.
Where were we?
It's important to save money.
Yeah, it depends on our goals in life.
Goals like aims, targets, goals.
Rory here used an interesting phrasal verb, squirrel away.
Yes, but that just means to hide the money.
Ooh la la, squirrel is just this animal, you know, like usually orange or brown squirrel.
If you don't know who squirrel is, just Google squirrel.
Google it, go to images and write down squirrel.
S-Q-U-I-R-R-R-E-L.
Squirrel.
Yeah, look at the images.
So, squirrel something away.
Hide something or store something like this little animal.
When it sees a nut, they usually eat nuts.
Well, usually...
I don't know what they usually eat, but often people give squirrels nuts.
Squirrels hide and store nuts for the future, you know.
And I can, for example, when I get some chocolate, I squirrel it away.
Or I keep it for another time.
That's what squirrels do when they hide their nuts.
Yeah, they keep it for a rainy day.
So, as soon as I get paid, I squirrel some money away.
So, I won't spend it all in one day on spa procedures.
Yeah, and it's a good idea to have money squirreled away for a rainy day.
So, in English, it's not a black day.
Maybe in your language is save money for a black day.
It's for a rainy day because, you know...
In Britain, they often have rains.
So save, keep money for a rainy day.
It's an idiom.
Save money for a time when you might need the money unexpectedly.
For example, So, when something goes horribly wrong...
I have some money for a rainy day.
Rory thinks that men tend to spend less money.
I agree.
I agree.
Maybe.
I'm just in the context of being married.
And men, I don't think that men do need so many things as women.
Just like count the creams.
Usually usually, dear listener, if you are a man and you have creams all over your bathroom, well done you.
But usually like, women have, like at least I don't know 10 different creams to put on their bodies and faces and different parts of their bodies.
Derive pleasure from something means you get pleasure from doing something.
Derive pleasure, like get pleasure.
And we can derive pleasure from traveling.
Reading.
Yeah, derive pleasure from reading.
And just derive from something is C1, so band 8, 8.5.
Oh, wow.
And we can derive pleasure or satisfaction from listening to music.
Young people spend most of their money on...
Technology gadgets smartphones, video games.
By the way, you know different gear, like equipment, gaming gear, gaming equipment.
And then if you don't know, you can just say you'd have to ask them.
Like you would have to ask them.
So pretty much like young people.
I don't know.
I'm not young.
So I don't know like what they spend their money on.
Maybe gym memberships.
So if you go to the gym, you have a gym membership.
The government can spend money irresponsibly like on horrible things irresponsibly or spend money in responsible ways, like on building roads, on improving the city's infrastructure.
Right, dear listener, so hopefully you spend your money responsibly.
Okay.
You don't buy things you don't need.
You don't fritter it away.
Yeah.
And I think the key word of the day is squirrel the money away.
That's an amazing phrase of a verb.
Squirrel away to save, fritter away to waste.
Yeah, to have some money squirreled away for a rainy day.
A phrasal verb and an idiom.
Yay, together in one sentence, Ben 9.
Very nice.
We'll get back to you in our next episode.
Bye.
Bye.
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Do people buy things they don't need?
I suppose it's easy to say yes, given all the things people buy that don't seem strictly necessary, like big TVs or the latest smartphones and gadgets, when the older ones work just fine.
But I doubt people would buy things unless they felt like they needed them, even beyond a purely material level.
And why?
Why is that?
Oh, lots of reasons.
They might have been manipulated by marketing ploys just into thinking the things they get are things they cannot do without.
Or they may feel insecure because people around them have things which are better and they want to feel in the loop.
No one likes being left out, do they?
And of course, maybe these things are actually necessary.
Like I absolutely need a smartphone for my work in this day and age.
I actually cannot function if it's not there.
So that's quite an important consideration as well.
Do you think it's important to save money?
I suppose that depends on your goals in life.
But generally speaking, it's a good idea to have at least some money squirreled away for a rainy day.
Like when someone or something goes horribly wrong and you have to fix something in an emergency.
And of course, many people want to retire one day and that involves some kind of saving as well.
And why else might it be important?
Not sure, really.
Maybe there are some knock-on effects of having a saver's mindset like planning and self-control and self-discipline.
But if you're saving, those things should already exist to some extent, so maybe you're just developing them.
Who do you think saves more money, men or women?
I'm tempted to say men, just because in married households I think women make something like 80 of the major purchasing choices.
So that means that women would spend more money.
But that's just talking about married people.
Probably, if they're not married and they're living their own lives, then men and women will spend and save equal amounts, because they don't really need significantly different things for the most part do they.
Why do many people derive pleasure from spending money?
Lots of reasons.
Like I think there's some kind of thing that happens in your brain or your cognition where you anticipate getting the reward, the reward being the thing that you want to buy.
And in pursuing that reward, It makes you feel good.
And then, of course, you get the thing and that allows you to enjoy life a bit more, ostensibly.
So that could also give people a great deal of pleasure as well.
I don't think it's the actual spending of the money.
I think it's the achievement of the goal, or being able to do the thing that you want to do with the thing that you bought.
What do you think young people usually spend most of their money on?
You'd have to ask them.
At a guess, I imagine they.
Well, just since they crave novelty more than most, they'll invest in the means to get access to that.
So things like smartphones and related gadgets probably take up the majority of their budgets.
They're also, well, at least they seem very health conscious.
So maybe things like gym memberships too?
Do you think the government should let people know how it spends their money?
Well, if it's collected their money through taxes, then yes.
I mean, that's part of being accountable and it reinforces the legitimacy of the system.
If you can see that the money is being spent in responsible ways, or if you see it's being spent irresponsibly, you can address that to prevent it from happening, perhaps recoup some of the lost money as well.
So that's quite important.
Of course, if you don't care about having a system being presented legitimately in that way, then it's not really a priority.
But certainly in I think almost all of the countries I have ever lived in, the government is pretty transparent about that kind of thing.
