Talking about Money and Wealth - English Vocabulary with Jennifer

Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer  from English with Jennifer.  

Think of an adjective to complete  this statement. Money can be...

What words come to mind? Helpful, stressful,  rewarding, exciting, fun, dangerous?  

Everyone has their own way of thinking about  money, but we need some common vocabulary to  

talk about it. In this lesson, we'll go over  some money related expressions. I may not be  

able to make you rich in terms of money,  but I can help you enrich your vocabulary.

Have you ever been broke? Hopefully not. Being  broke means having no money at all. It's not like  

you forgot your wallet at home. If a person  is broke, the person has no money anywhere.  

Broke. I'm broke. I can't  even afford to do anything.  

What's interesting is that we have somewhat  similar ways of describing extreme poverty  

and extreme wealth. We might describe someone as  dirt poor if they have very little in terms of  

clothing, food, and housing. On the other hand,  a billionaire might be described as filthy rich.  

"Filthy" is another word for  "dirty." No. I grew up dirt poor.

I mean sure. I went into public service. and they  all stayed and got filthy rich. But of course,  

being poor or rich doesn't have to be described  negatively. I like the expression "financially  

comfortable." Doesn't that sound nice? Financially  comfortable means that you have more than  

enough to meet your basic needs and enjoy some  comforts, if not all kinds of fabulous luxuries.

"Filthy rich" describes wealth to the  point where one's lifestyle may seem  

obscene by others. "Obscene" is similar to  offensive," so filthy rich is excessive,  

like having a golden toilet or having a  different car for every day of the year.

There are some very colorful expressions, like  "living high on the hog" or "being poor as a  

church mouse." But honestly, I don't hear  people using these expressions very often,  

so let me share some vocabulary  that I do hear in everyday English.  

"Super rich" and "crazy rich" imply great wealth  but without any negative judgment, in my opinion.  

Oh, I'll be rich. I'll be...I'll be super rich.  

Rachel, these people aren't just  rich. Okay? They're crazy rich. Look.  

We can also say that someone is fabulously  rich or living a life of luxury, and those  

aren't negative expressions either. However,  it could sound like you envy those people.  

We can also talk about being  well-off, and there are degrees:  

being extremely well-off, fairly  well-off, quite well-off, pretty well-off.  

I want to note that there are some  positive associations with wealthy people,  

especially those who are generous. Some use their  money for philanthropic causes. They're known  

for their philanthropy. Do you know any famous  philanthropists? You can tell me in the comments.

Let's review those three words.  "Philanthropist" is the person.  

"Philanthropy" is what they do, and  they engage in philanthropic activities.

Sometimes we may dream about vast wealth, but  most of us just want to earn enough to make  

a living. We want to earn enough to pay the  bills. We don't want to worry about where our  

next meal is coming from. When you live from  paycheck to paycheck, you have just enough  

to survive. In other words, you have just  enough to get by, just enough to scrape by.

All these expressions help us describe living  on a tight budget. Money is tight. The opposite  

would be someone having money to spare.  Money is tight, meaning there's not much.

Live from paycheck to paycheck.

Not know where one's next meal is coming from.

Scrape by, get by...these are similar expressions.

Is money that tight?

Money's tight, huh? Living paycheck  to paycheck, barely hanging on.  

I'm barely scraping by. I'll  add one more: make ends meet.  

If you worry about making ends meet, you worry  about paying all your bills, settling your debts,  

and having enough money for your basic  needs. I was struggling to make ends meet.

Took the night job to make ends meet.

While it would be nice to make the big bucks,  most of us understand that we don't need great  

wealth in order to be happy. Right? "Big bucks"  refers to a lot of money. A buck is a dollar.

Got to make those big bucks.

That's where the  

big bucks are. If you have a friend with a great  job and an awesome salary, you might say, "She's  

doing very well. I'm happy for her." Or, "He's  done well for himself. He's worked really hard. Do  

you know anyone like that? Let's review. Ready for  a quiz? One. What's the opposite of filthy rich?

Dirt poor.

Two. If a person has no money at all they are...

broke.

Three. Being financially comfortable  is closer in meaning to...

being well-off.

Four. What's another adverb for  "extremely" as in "extremely rich"?

Some common choices are: super, crazy, fabulously.

Five. If you are a philanthropist, you live  from paycheck to paycheck. True or false?

False.

Six. If someone barely has enough  money to survive, they are doing what?

Scraping by.

Seven. A person who is scraping by may not  know where their next WHAT is coming from?

Where their next meal is coming from.

Eight. If you're enjoying great financial  success at work, you're making the big WHAT?

The big bucks.

Nine. What's the opposite of "money is tight"?

Have money to spare.

Ten. A bonus challenge. Find one academic word  for "rich" and one academic word for "poor."

A synonym for "rich" is affluent. A  synonym for poor is "impoverished."

Here's my wish for all of you. I wish you enough  money to feel secure and to pursue your dreams.  

We don't have to be filthy rich to do  that, just financially comfortable.  

I think what many people aspire  to have is financial security  

and financial independence. That's the feeling  that everything is okay now, and everything  

will be okay in the future. You have enough  for today's needs and enough for tomorrow's.  

Let me offer a recommendation. Do you know who  Ken Honda is? He's a very popular Japanese author.  

He teaches millions about happy money. He gives  interesting insights in Japanese and in English  

about personal wealth and happiness. If the topic  interests you, you can find his work on YouTube.  

And now a tip. If you want to practice using  some of the vocabulary from this lesson,  

why don't you tell me about someone you  know and their financial situation? Or  

you can tell me about your wish for your  financial future. Tell me in the comments.  

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!  Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter,  

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