Must-Know Words about Money

Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer from English with  Jennifer. Many say that money isn't everything,  

and I do agree, but we have to acknowledge  that money is almost everywhere. In nearly  

every aspect of our daily lives,  we make and accept payments. We  

pay others and others pay us. Let's go over  key money-related words you need to know.

If you work, you earn money. Wages  are what people earn per hour, day,  

or week. Minimum wage in my  state of Massachusetts is $15,  

with some exceptions. We can talk and ask about  someone's hourly wage. "Wage" and "rate" are  

similar. They're both an amount of money paid.  An hourly wage is a set rate for one hour. A  

rate is set according to some kind of standard.  Let's say you're exchanging money. You pay an  

exchange rate. It's standard. Hotel rates in  New York City are higher than hotel rates in  

a smaller city. You can ask a professional,  "What's your hourly rate?" when you want  

their services. They'll quote a price that  should fall in line with industry standards.

If you work for a company, you may have  a salary. That's what you're paid per  

year. It's understood that you're a full-time  employee. If someone has a salary of $60,000,  

then they get $5,000 a month. Maybe they  receive payments of $2,500 every two weeks.

Sometimes companies give their employees a bonus,  

a little extra on top of their salary at the  end of the year -- if the employees meet or  

exceed all their goals. The employees  can get, receive, or earn a bonus.

Some workers depend on tips as part  of their earnings, as part of their  

income. A tip is extra money people pay  for some kind of service, for example,  

at a restaurant or a hair salon. In the US, tips  range from 15% to to about 25%. A formal word for  

"tip" is "gratuity" and the plural "gratuities."  It's not uncommon for an American restaurant to  

add a 15 to 20% gratuity charge to your bill  if you have 10 or more people in your party.

Restaurants aren't the only place where you may  end up paying more than you expect. Sometimes  

airline or rental car companies have what  we call "hidden fees." "Fee" or the plural  

"fees" is the general word for money we  have to pay for a service. Legal fees,  

resort fees, platform fees,  credit card fees. By the way,  

you always want to pay your credit card  bill on time, or there's a late fee.

A charge is similar to fee. It's money we  have to pay for something. It's really nice  

when there's no charge, meaning there's no  price on a good or a service. For example,  

I answer questions in the comments free of charge.  And there's no charge to sign up as a free member  

on Patreon. What's on your phone bill? Take a  look. Make sure you know the monthly charge.  

Is there an administrative fee? If your bill looks  like mine, there are government fees and taxes.

A subscription is what you pay for a  monthly or annual service. I signed  

my son up for a three-month subscription  on Immerse so that he could brush up on  

French before going back to college in the fall.

Do you have a monthly budget? If you're like  me, you keep keep track of your earnings and  

expenses. When things go well, my earnings are  more than my expenses. That's what we all want,  

right? Expenses are what we spend money on.  My business expenses include paying different  

platform fees. Last year, I had to buy a  new computer, so that was a major expense.

How about fines? Those are something  we try to avoid at all costs. We pay  

a fine when we break some kind of rule. I  drove for many years without any problems,  

but when I moved to Boston, I started  paying parking fines. At first,  

I didn't understand where I could and couldn't  park, so when I parked in the wrong place they  

fined me. I had to pay a fine, a parking  fine. Parking fines are around $50 or more.

"Bribe" is another negative word. People pay  bribes when they want to get something in an  

illegal or dishonest way. A common stereotype is  a politician accepting bribes to influence policy.  

A dishonest person can accept or take a bribe.  A desperate person may offer a bribe. In a less  

serious situation, a parent might offer a cookie  to their child as a bribe to clean up the toys.

Let's consider an honest generous person  next. Someone with enough money might be  

willing to give a small or large amount of  money to help an organization or a charity.  

That's called a donation. Recently,  a family in my town lost their home  

in a fire. Pretty much everyone else made  some kind of donation to help that family.

I mentioned a parent giving a cookie as  a bribe, but there's another way to teach  

kids responsibility. Some American parents  offer a weekly allowance. That's usually  

a small amount of money to cover common  expenses. With that amount of money, kids  

have to learn to budget and cover their  expenses, like school lunches, bus rides,  

and personal toiletries. Sometimes a punishment  can be reducing or taking away a kid's allowance.

Do you think you can remember the key words  from this lesson? Take a quiz to review.

One. What do some American children  receive to help with weekly expenses?

An allowance

Two. What would a person most  likely give to a charity?

A donation

Three. Someone who works  part-time receives an hourly...

wage.

Four. Which two words mean  that extra money is received?

Tip and bonus

Five. If you park illegally, you must pay a...

fine.

Six. Jack reads The New York Times  online every day. He has a...

subscription,

Seven. You'll stay within budget  if you track your monthly...

expenses.

Eight. The final price of an airline  ticket includes additional...

fees.

Nine. It's wrong for politicians to accept...

bribes.

Ten. The ... of five-star hotels are  higher than those of two star hotels.

the rates

How did you do? If you need to,  go back and review more. That's  

all for now. Please remember to like  and share the video if you found the  

lesson useful. As always, thanks  for watching and happy studies!

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