Shadowing Practice: When Social Pressure Starts Affecting Your Financial Goals - Learn English Speaking with Video
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114 sentences
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Your social calendar shouldn't control your money.
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If every invite becomes a yes, your priorities are the first thing to get pushed back.
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Most people don't think their social life is hurting their finances.
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Until they realize it's quietly costing them.
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Let me ask you something.
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Have you ever looked at your checking account after a weekend and thought, how did that add up so fast?
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Yes.
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And nothing even felt like a big purchase at the time.
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That's the part that surprises people.
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It's not one big decision it's a series of small ones that we didn't plan forth.
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Like saying yes to a dinner or splitting a bill.
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Adding one more stop.
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It all feels normal in the moment.
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Until you pull up your account and see that over time, it's been working against you and your financial goals.
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Especially when you've got other priorities like savings, paying off debt, or investing.
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My name's Rich.
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And I'm Katie.
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And today we're talking about how social pressure can affect your finances and how to stay connected without falling behind.
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All right, Katie.
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let's talk about unplanned social spending what is it you know it's those things
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that add up so quickly
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that we don't realize the normal day -to -day right it's
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the dinners it's the drinks after the dinner it's the birthdays it's the special occasions
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and then they come one after another and they seem
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so small in the moment but realistically
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when you don't plan they add up really quickly
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but it doesn't mean
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that you can't do those fun little things it just means you need to plan and budget for them, right?
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Absolutely.
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A great example is my son, he just recently had a birthday and I thought
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that I was being really strategic and I was going to save money by finally convincing him, based on his age, to not have a big birthday party, right?
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So instead, he had the option to go to the theme park.
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And not only did we have to pay for the theme park tickets, but then once you get in, they nickel and dime you for everything and the food
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and he wants to go shopping and all the little trinkets and things like that.
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But thankfully, I wasn't surprised.
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it was his birthday so we planned accordingly
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and we gave him a budget once he got in the park
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so he knew
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and it made him more strategic right it kind of prevented him from the impulse purchases of
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when we first walked in the park like he wanted to
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wait until later in the day where he felt like he
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had seen everything to kind of like decide how do i really use
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that money you gave him a little goals to kind of reach
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so he was kind of focused on those as opposed to kind of what was here
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and now otherwise i feel like it just would have spun out of control very quickly
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or he would have had regret if we bought the first thing he saw.
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And then we're like, okay, that's it for the day.
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So it worked out really good.
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One thing that's worked really well for me in the past was sometimes switching to just paying cash, especially for those ancillary purchases that I may not know exactly how much it's going to be.
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It keeps me from overspending, right?
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When I'm out of cash, I'm out of cash.
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I can't go in debt any farther by making purchases on things I really didn't want to or didn't plan to initially.
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Yeah.
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I think that's actually a really great strategy.
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Like we just, when we're building our budget, we just build fun money into our budget.
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And then, and that's a monthly, you know, expense that we have.
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So once the money's out, then you're, you know, you have to start, you know, declining the things or it doesn't make you plan a little bit differently, right?
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Instead of kind of saying yes to everything, like you're a little more strategic with, you know, the events and the things that you're taking on throughout the month, because you know, you're going to hit that budget.
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And then, you know, yeah, you didn't know exactly how much that dinner was going to cost or how much exactly the groceries may have been,
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but you budgeted an amount to kind of stay within that range.
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So you could still do that thing or go out and buy that item you wanted to.
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So now that we've kind of talked about what the social spending is, let's talk about how it adds up so quickly and why that happens sometimes.
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Yeah, it's a lot of it's just in the moment to make you feel good, right?
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That fear of maybe missing out on something that somebody else is getting to partake in or getting to achieve,
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but you don't always know what their goals are, right? you need to know what your goals are
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so you can stay focused on those things.
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Not let that instant gratification kind of suck you in
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or pull you away from what your real goals and your real priorities are.
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We've all been a victim of FOMO before, for sure.
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You know, another thing about that too is a lot of times when you're accepting an invitation, it's open ended, right?
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So it may be just a dinner that then evolves to something after dinner and then we're going to the next spot.
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And before you know it, you know, it's definitely taking away from those long -term goals that you were working towards.
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I think, but that's, Katie, you and I like to say all the time, when in doubt, budget, right?
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So if you're budgeting for those things, you know that that's what those things, you're going to go into that and have an expectation of, I know I've got a budget to be able to do that, if that's what you choose to do.
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And you planned for that.
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So that way you're not caught off guard
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or put in an uncomfortable circumstance where you've got to make a choice between your budget
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or kind of the pressure from your peers.
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And it's okay to say no sometimes, right?
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Or get more creative about what you're doing, right?
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It doesn't mean that you can't spend time with.
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you know, your family and friends, it just means that it doesn't always need to cost money to do that.
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Right.
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So maybe I will, you know, have a potluck at my house and we're going to do a game night instead of, you know, going out to dinner and just getting creative to make sure
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that you're still supporting those long -term financial goals that you have.
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Yeah.
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And being open about like, hey, I've got goals I'm trying to meet.
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I've got a plan I'm trying to achieve.
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Like be open with your friends or your social group about, hey, I'm trying to do some of this.
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So maybe there's not as much pressure from them to get you to overspend.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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All right.
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So we talked about what social unplanned spending is and how it can add up faster than you think.
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But let's talk about when it starts affecting your budget and your goals.
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Yeah, we have a few ways to indicate that your social spending has really started impacting your goals.
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You feel hesitant or stressed when plans come up?
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You say yes, even when it doesn't fit your budget.
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You adjust your budget after the fact to compensate.
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You feel regret when you look back at your spending.
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And really, the best strategy to combat overspending is budget.
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I mean, the best thing about a budget is it tells your money
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where to go instead of figuring out where it went at the end of the month.
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Exactly.
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Putting that budget in place allows you to do the fun things, but still have long -term goals and save for them
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and then i don't have to have fomo exactly because i planned
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and you get to do the fun things too i think
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the big takeaway here is it's not about cutting people off
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or saying no to everything right it's about being intentional knowing what works for you before you're in the moment
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when you plan for it you can still show up you're just doing in a way
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that actually fits your life
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and your goals don't have to take a back seat every time something comes up exactly you can stay social
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and stay on track
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if this made you think differently about your own spending share with someone you usually make plans with
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and don't forget to like comment and subscribe we'll see you next time
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “When Social Pressure Starts Affecting Your Financial Goals”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: budget, goals, dinner, spending, exactly. This video has 114 sentences and 1484 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:52. The speaker talks fast, about 216 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 90% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| overspend noun | The amount by which someone or something is overspent. | |
| unplanned adjective | Unintentional; not intended. | |
| differently adverb | /ˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt.li/ | In a different way. |
| ancillary adjective | /ænˈsɪl.ə.ɹiː/ | Subordinate; secondary; auxiliary. |
| gratification noun | /ˌɡɹætɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/ | The act of gratifying or pleasing, either the mind, or the appetite or taste. |
| hesitant adjective | /ˈhɛzɪtənt/ | Tending to hesitate, wait, or proceed with caution or reservation. |
| partake verb | /pɑɹˈteɪk/ | To take part in an activity; to participate. |
| potluck noun | /ˈpɑtˌlʌk/ | Whatever is available in a particular situation. |
| realistically adverb | In a realistic manner. | |
| takeaway noun | /ˈteɪkəweɪ/ | A restaurant that sells food to be eaten elsewhere. |
| trinket noun | /ˈtɹɪŋkɪt/ | A small, showy ornament, especially a piece of jewellery. |
| dime noun | /daɪm/ | A coin worth one-tenth of a dollar, that is, ten cents. |
| circumstance noun | /ˈsɝ.kəmˌstæns/ | Something which is related to, or in some way affects, a fact or event. |
| groceries noun | /ˈɡɹoʊ.s(ə.)ɹiz/ | Retail foodstuffs and other household supplies; the commodities sold by a grocer or in a grocery store. |
| intentional adjective | /ɪnˈtɛnʃənəl/ | Intended or planned; done deliberately or voluntarily. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| add up verb | To take the sum of; to total. | |
| come up verb | To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly. | |
| fall behind verb | To be late (for a regular event) | |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. | |
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. | |
| pay off verb | To bribe, especially to deter oversight. | |
| pull up verb | /ˌpʊl ˈʌp/ | To lift upwards or vertically. |
| push back verb | To refute or argue against a position or an accusation; to express one's own view on a situation. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Your social calendar shouldn't control your money.
- When I'm out of cash, I'm out of cash.
- I think that's actually a really great strategy.
- It doesn't mean that you can't spend time with.
- You feel hesitant or stressed when plans come up?
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 52 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: gratification /ˌɡɹætɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/, intentional /ɪnˈtɛnʃənəl/, expectation /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/, invitation /ɪnvɪˈteɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: differently /ˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt.li/, ancillary /ænˈsɪl.ə.ɹiː/, gratification /ˌɡɹætɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/, intentional /ɪnˈtɛnʃənəl/, expectation /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like overspend, unplanned, differently.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.