Russian ice-cream is great. Any shop or street seller can offer a choice of different ones for less than ten roubles, that’s about 20p in British money, which I think is a fair price. They have natural fruit flavours and they are made with thick creamy milk. I always feel good when I buy an ice-cream, and this article explains where that good feeling comes from. It’s not only because I like ice-cream.
Double-click on any word and see its definition from Cambridge Dictionaries Online.
Read the article and then do a comprehension activity. Finally, do some writing yoursef and see texts written by other readers.
In my childhood world of 1970s Britain, ice-cream was cheap. It was cheap because it was made in huge factories from a kind of margarine. There was very little milk in it at all, and I don’t think there was any cream. By the way, the inventor of this industrial process was a young chemist called Margaret Thatcher. (More about her later.)
Ice-cream was cheap, but my family was poor. My parents were poor and strict. They gave me pocket money, but I think this money was designed to be part of my moral education. It wasn’t for buying things with - it was for saving. So, when it began, my pocket money was 5p. Of course prices were different then – it was a period of high inflation. But my pocket money was never quite enough to buy an ice cream. I had to learn to wait until next week for ice-cream.
My parents would probably agree with the advice that Charles Dickens’ father gave him… "Annual income, twenty pounds; annual expenditure, nineteen pounds; result, happiness. Annual income, twenty pounds; annual expenditure, twenty-one pounds; result, misery." (In fact his father didn’t follow this advice but that’s another story.) Later, he put these words into the mouth of Mr. Micawber in his book David Copperfield.
Most people in Britain believe that it’s a good idea to save money and try to avoid being in debt. This is an important part of the culture, or at least it was in the past. One of the main motivations for the co-operative movement was to help poor people stop using credit from shop-keepers. Working class people put their money into “friendly societies” which helped when a member was ill, or one of their family died. They also set up building societies. Building societies at first only existed for the time it took to build houses for the members. They were an example of the philosophy of “self-help”. People would join together and save their money until they had enough to build a row of houses, or an estate. Often the streets were named after famous radicals of the period – liberal campaigners for democracy and against alcohol.
In the 1970s, Margaret Thatcher became a popular politician by saying that borrowing money was bad for governments too. It was an idea that lots of people liked exactly because their parents had told them that debt was immoral and that you should never spend more than you earn.
The world has changed plenty since then. Margaret Thatcher is now one of the most unpopular British politicians of all time. Some building societies still exist, but many of the biggest have become banks – that is to say they don’t have members. They are run in the same way as other big businesses and they just have customers. People in Britain seem to be quite relaxed about using the banks’ services – credit cards, overdrafts, loans of different kinds. In August 2004 the amount of debt in British families reached one trillion pounds. That’s £1,000,000,000,000 or £17,000 for every man, woman and child.
This is not all bad of course. A lot of people work in banks. London is the world centre for a lot of different sorts of financial activity. If we compare it with Frankfurt – where the European Central bank is, then the same number of people work in financial services in London as the whole population of Frankfurt. As for me, well, I have a credit card. But I only use it in emergencies: for example when I run out of money and feel like an ice-cream.
top
Do you agree that it's a good idea to save money and try to avoid getting into debt? Or are yout relaxed about using banks’ services such as credit cards, overdrafts and loans of different kinds? What do you think of this article? Send us your opinions.
Zulfiqar writes “I went through this article and I am 100% of the same opinion that one should not spend more than his earnings. As far as the use of a credit card is concerned, that facility should also be availed of in times of emergency only.”
top
Mai Le writes “In my opinion, saving money is a good habit. My mother gives me 50000 Vietnamese Dongs (VND) a week. I am a student and I go to the University by motorcycle. So my pocket money is used for petrol and materials. My weekly expenditure is 35000 VND. I have 15000 VND for my saving every week. It's not too much but for me, it's great. I can use my saving money for a book I like or a course of English. I think if I am patient, I will have a fortune.”
top
Amitkumar Nikam writes “I think saving money is a must for every person who wishes to live with a secure future. But money saving is not something which can be easily exercised. Many times you spend a lot of money without noticing it. It usually happens to me. Restricting yourself from spending money can be made possible by avoiding keeping money at hand. If you have a lot of hard cash or credit cards in your pocket you are bound to spend it. I know some of the ways to save money. One of them is buying a house on a long term or short-term loan from a bank. You can rent that house and earn some money, which along with some part of your salary can be used for paying loan debts. Once the loan is fully paid you own a house, a big saving...”
top
Karen og Jon Nysveen writes “Saving money is a good thing, and everyone should save at least 5 % of their income. Banks services can be very useful too, if you use them carefully. If you used the bank’s service correctly you could also increase your fortune!!!”
top
Heki writes "I think that being in debt is not good. Ii like to have some money for my future expenses. You never know what could happen in your life. To be prepared for some unlucky incidents is the best way to run your life."
top
Judith Mundia writes “I do agree that it is a good idea to save money and try to avoid getting into debt. Although quite frequently none of us enjoy giving up or sacrificing a little. I think it all involves discipline and living within one’s income. This of course would mean forfeiting certain luxuries and ignoring certain spending impulses. I do not believe that there is never enough money to save. One can save something, even if it is a little. As with debts, you will also pay back more than what you borrowed because of interest and other bank charges.”
top
Alejandro Ramirez Lia writes “I’m writing from Mexico. Today I use some credit cards, and I think it's no good for me, because it's expensive to maintain it. So, I think the best way to do some shopping is with cash. In Mexico the interest on a credit card is very expensive. I’m looking for a way to pay it.”
top
Zoran writes “We should save in order to have or possess, but nowadays it is almost impossible. If you go to the work, you must eat something, and it will cost you money, if you commute it will cost you money and so on. So on the one hand we must work to get a salary, but on the other hand we must spend more and more to be able to get to the work place. By the end of the day, we all find it hard to save anything, due to the magic circle (buying and selling), and the more you have, the greater expectation will occur, and here you are in the MAGIC CIRCLE.”
top
Julio Rimac writes “I completely agree with this article, one must not spend more than one earns. We have to save money, even if you live in Peru, where I live, because one no can predict with our politicians.”
top
Olga writes “Hello! I come from Ukraine and have been living in UK for a short time. And I can say that using bank's services is not bad. In Ukraine it is very complicated to borrow any money from banks or other societies. So to buy, for example, a house you need to save money for almost all your life. Bank's services in the UK was the first surprise for me here.”
top
Alexandra writes “Hello, here are my comments on Ice-cream and banking.
Ideally, of course, it is a good idea to have no debts. But on the other hand, the possibility to take out a loan gives you the opportunity to buy expensive things, such as a house or a car, even if you don’t have enough money.
Surely, this way of buying has advantages and disadvantages. Lets start with advantages. The most important one is that you don’t need to wait until you have saved the whole sum required to buy a thing. You may save money only for an initial installment and take the rest on credit. Thus, loans let you start using the thing as soon as you get a credit and register all necessary documents officially.
But living on credit has important disadvantages. The largest one is you must have a stable income and make credit payments regularly. It makes you plan your life carefully. Sometimes, especially if you have taken a credit of a large amount, you are forced to cut down your other expenditures.
Nevertheless, I believe that loans of different kinds let people solve their problems and meet their needs. For example, buying a flat. In Russia it was impossible until the late 1990s to take out a mortgage. But now this bank service is being spread more and more all over Russia. It lets people improve their living conditions. A newly wedded couple, which do not have their own accommodation, but have an income stable and large enough to apply for a credit, may buy their own flat or even house on credit. And they start their new life in the new home!
I vote for credit!”
Jenny Lu writes “Nowadays, more and more people get involved in financial embarrassment. Attracted by bank’s credit cards, overdrafts and loans, they are tied down with debts of different kinds. I do not think excessive consumption is a good idea.
Actually, people are exposed to bigger and bigger pressure from work, family and society. So enjoying every holiday becomes a hot topic in the media. It is disappointing when people are reminded on holiday that the deadline of their debt is close. Personal liabilities are likely to cause both physical and psychological pressure. Usually, people respectively hold a limitation of their debts, if any. And every certain period of time, they bother to check the amount of their debts or loans in order to make sure that the amount is not beyond the limitation. They are not really relaxed about their debt, because they have to be careful about it and in control of the numbers all the time, or they would fall into a financially difficult position.
By contrast, saving money is beneficial. Big family plans, such as a trip abroad, a move into a more pleasant house and monetary support for children’s education, cannot go well without enough money. And if any emergencies, like a big operation, occur where a large amount of money is needed immediately, the money saved will be turned to good account. All this happens without any anxiety about paying debt. Then, people are really relaxed.
Saving money is a traditional but not conservative way of using money. It not only helps a family work out a plan of spending money, but also makes people lead a relaxed and ordered life.”
top
M Yousaf Khan writes “I fully endorse the views of the writer. One should not get into debt unless it becomes unavoidable. So far as credit card usage is concerned it may be used so far as the transaction is interest free. One can manage credit card bills if he shops only up to his monthly income, even though using a credit card postpones payment to shopkeepers.
Generally speaking we must avoid lavish spending. We should manage our spending according to our resources. Banks these days are promoting people to use credit by giving easy terms and other incentives.
Actually, aggressive policies by banks are objectionable as they ignite people demands for luxuries and non essential purchases. Otherwise people must save money which would be used for better schemes, future requirements, children’s education etc.”
top
Indra Ozoliòa writes “I have to agree that it would be nice to live without debts. However, I have to admit that it is almost impossible to imagine such a situation in the modern world. My colleague even took a loan for her grandmother’s funeral. Sometimes a loan is the only solution in emergencies.
People are divided in two types – one, those who save money and the other, those who take out loans. It couldn’t be different because otherwise banks couldn’t have money for loans. I belong to the type that gets into debts despite my wish to belong to the other type of people. I remember only one time when I decided to save money. That was almost fifteen years ago when Latvia was part of the Soviet Union. When I had saved three hundred roubles (approximately two salaries of a soviet worker) Soviet government announced monetary reform. There was a government announcement on a late evening TV program that money would be changed and every soviet citizen could change not more than three hundred roubles as from the next day. Many people lost hardly any money because at that time they saved money in their “socks” and me too.
Since that time I just sometimes have ideas about saving money but when I begin to think about crisis in the economy, bank bankruptcy or something like that then I leave this idea. That would be much better if my income were the same as my expenditure. However for larger purchases I take short-term loans. I have a weak character like the majority of humans.”
top
Wikipedia: banking
Howstuffworks: how banks work
Yahoo! Finance: banking safely
Howstuffworks: how ATMs work
Howstuffworks: how credit cards work
The British Council is not responsible for the content of external websites.
| 
