IELTS Speaking for Success - 💴 Buying things and money (Part 3) + Transcript

Episode Date: April 17, 2026

Get access to our episode archive: https://www.patreon.com/ieltssfs Rory reveals why we buy things we don't need, from sneaky marketing ploys to the fear of being left out. Find out how to stop frittering money away and start squirreling it away for a rainy day! Tune in and have a great day! - Book a class with Rory here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://successwithielts.com/rory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Our course on Phrasal Verbs: https://successwithielts.com/podcourses Transcript: https://successwithielts.com/ Find an IELTS Speaking Partner: https://links.successwithielts.com/ieltspartner Our social media: https://linktr.ee/successwithielts © 2025 Podcourses Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Hello, hello, lovely, and welcome into IEL speaking part three. We are discussing money, buying things, materialism. So let's focus, dear listener, focus. Let's talk about buying things in general and money. 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 is that? Oh, lots of reasons. They might have been manipulated by marketing ploys, just into thinking the things they get or 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 scurled 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, 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 the money on?

You'd have to ask them. I'd 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. As you know, we now release all of our premium content for free, and it's available for one month. after one month it goes into our super secret archive to sign up for the archive click the link in the description below see you soon 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 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. 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? 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, 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's something dishonest. They tell you lies, they trick you into buying things. Like get this scream 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 inter-buying things, inter-thinking that they need these things. And people start believing they can't do with them.

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. Podcast is, you know, a must. Please buy our premium podcast, and of course purchase classes with Maria and myself.

Very important and essential things to have, although if you are listening to Part 3, you've already purchased the premium thing. So our next best option is buy classes with me. and one of my students recently went in for her test we were aiming for a 7.0 just like a band 7 and she got 7.5

which was super impressive so congratulations again I cannot say her name but she knows who she is well done and that 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. It 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. 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.

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It helps protect against identity theft and financial fraud, so I can stress less during tax season or any season. Plans start at just $12 a month. Learn more at tellus.com slash online security. No one can prevent all cybercrime or identity theft. Conditions apply. Rory here used an interesting phrase of verb, squirrel away.

Yes, but that just means to hide the money. Ooh la la, squirrel is just this animal. like usually orange or brown squirrel. If you don't know who squirrel is, just Google. Google it, go to images and write down squirrel. S-Q-U-U-I-R-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.

Yeah, they keep it for 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 is an idiom. Save money for a time when you might need the money unexpectedly. For example, luckily, I have some money for a rainy day. 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, de lisner, 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 the money on 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 responsible.

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 verb. Squirrel away to save, fritter away to waste. Yeah, to have some money squirrelled away for a rainy day. A phrase of 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. 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 is that? Oh, lots of reasons. They might have been manipulated by marketing ploys, just into thinking the things they get or 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 scurled 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, 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 the money on? You'd have to ask them. I 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. It reinforces. It reinforces. is 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.