32 - Personal finance

Question 1

outgoings (Br)

Answer 1

the money that you have to spend regularly, for example on rent or food
SYN: expenditure
OPP: income
e.g.
List all your outgoings for a month.

Question 2

expenditure

Answer 2

the total amount of money that a government, organization, or person spends during a particular period of time
SYN: outgoings (Br)
OPP: income
e.g.
huge cuts in public expenditure (=the amount of money a government spends on services for the public)

Question 3

in credit

Answer 3

if you are in credit, there is money in your bank account
OPP: be overdrawn
e.g.
There are no bank charges if you stay in credit.

Question 4

overdrawn

Answer 4

if you are overdrawn or if your bank account is overdrawn, you have spent more than you had in your account and so you owe the bank money
OPP: in account
e.g.
I try not to go overdrawn if possible.
My account is overdrawn by £300.

Question 5

promptly

Answer 5

without delay
e.g.
A reply came very promptly.

Question 6

mount up

Answer 6

to gradually increase in amount
SYN: build up; accumulate
e.g.
She finally had to go back to work to pay the bills that were mounting up.

Question 7

bank statement

Answer 7

a printed record of activities in an account over a particular period
e.g.
I haven’t received my bank statement for last month yet.

Question 8

cautious

Answer 8

careful to avoid danger, mistakes or risks
e.g.
a cautious driver

Question 9

withdraw

Answer 9

to take money out of a bank account
SYN: take/get money out of an account
OPP: put money into an account

Question 10

budget (v)

Answer 10

to carefully plan and control how much money you spend and what you will buy with it
e.g.
We’ve budgeted for a new car next year.

Question 11

shortfall

Answer 11

the difference between the amount you have and the amount you need or expect
e.g.
1. Parents have been asked to pay £30 each to cover the shortfall in the budget.
2. an estimated shortfall of about £1 million

Question 12

cutback

Answer 12

a reduction in something, such as the number of workers in a company or the amount of money a government or company spends
e.g.
A fall in donations has forced the charity to make cutbacks.

Question 13

subsidize

Answer 13

if a government or organization subsidizes a company, activity etc, it pays part of its costs
e.g.
Farming is heavily subsidized (=subsidized a lot) by the government.

Question 14

economize

Answer 14

to reduce the amount of money, time, goods etc that you use
SYN: cut down
e.g.
Higher taxes encourage people to economize on fuel.

Question 15

surplus

Answer 15

A surplus is more of something that is needed. If it is money, the opposite is deficit, if it is food, gas, etc, the opposite is shortage.
e.g.
a huge budget surplus of over £16 billion