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.

Thank you. 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? 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?

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