The title of this blog post may sound rather gloomy and you may be thinking: “Why does Shanthi want to remind us of the financial crisis (also known as the credit crunch)?” but there is a reason for this reminder of gloomy days.
A few weeks back I went to see the film “The Big Short” at the cinemas. The film is about the financial crisis of 2007 -2008 that was triggered by the build-up of the housing market and the credit bubble. I was interested in seeing the film because the financial crisis was the reason I was made redundant in 2009 for the third time and finally decided to leave the financial sector for good. If you want to find out more about the events that led to the housing market collapse, watch this film. I found it informative and fascinating.
As I was thinking about what to write for this week’s post, my mind went back to the film and I thought about what language I could share with you that was not too finance-specific but had general use in everyday language. And that’s when I thought of the phrasal verbs and expressions that are connected to money especially in terms of debt, credit, savings and the stock market.
So without further ado, let’s explore. All my examples have a financial flavour to them.
1. To bail out – to help someone or an organisation who is having financial problems.
“One of the characteristics of the financial crisis of 2007 -2008 that was different from previous economic crises is the fact that governments and taxpayers were forced to bail the large banks out of the enormous debts they had amassed“.
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2. To bet against – to take a financial risk
“Some fund managers made a huge amount of money by betting against the housing market because they predicted that the housing market would collapse”.
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3. To splash out – to buy something expensive
“One of the reasons the housing market collapsed was the easy access to credit. It was so easy to get credit that people splashed out on luxuries they could not afford.”
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4. To run up debts – to let the debt increase
“Cheap credit through credit cards is a dangerous way of running up debts. It also gives you a false sense of security.”
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5. To profit from – to get an advantage from a situation
“In the run-up to the financial crisis, a number of investment managers, predicting the collapse of the housing market, decided to profit from the situation and consequently made a fortune”.
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6. To rip (someone) off – to cheat someone of money
“Many people are suspicious of the banks because they feel that they are only in business to rip their customers off“.
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7. To pull out – to stop being involved in an activity or business
“The collapse of the housing market forced many banks to pull out of the mortgage market making it extremely difficult for people get a loan.”
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8. To pay off
“As people’s debts increase, it is getting harder and harder to pay off all the loans they have”.
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9. To default on a debt – to fail to pay a debt/loan
“As we all know, the housing market collapsed because many homeowners started defaulting on their mortgage payments”.
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10. To cut back – to spend or do less
“When things gets hard, we need to cut back on the luxuries in life like dining out, holidays and shopping.”
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Were you affected by the financial crisis of 2007-08? How about your country?
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Ciao for now
Shanthi
