BEP 386 – Idioms about Spending Money (Part 2)

Hello and welcome back to Business English Pod for another look at English idioms
related to spending money.

Think of the people close to you, particularly your family members, and consider
how they spend money. Does everyone have the same approach? Or do they all
handle things differently? Chances are, you can easily think of differences in
peoples’ approaches to money management. And it shouldn’t be surprising to learn
that money is one of the top sources of conflict in a relationship.

This is true in business just as it is in families. How a company uses its financial
resources is a huge strategic concern. Does the company risk some to get some?
Or does the company favor saving and safety? And does the short-term strategy
differ from the long-term strategy? These are all important questions, and it’s no
wonder that English has so many idioms to talk about how people spend money.

In today’s dialog, we’ll rejoin Shelly, Martin, and Vince, three managers at a tech
company. They are talking about how their company should spend money on
staffing. And as we’ll hear, they don’t really agree on the best approach. During
their conversation, they use many idioms related to spending money. See if you
can spot some of these as we go through the dialog, and we’ll explain them later in
the debrief.

As you listen to the dialog, try to answer the following questions:

1. What does Martin say about companies that already work in the sector they are
considering?
2. How does Martin describe office space on the south side of the city?
3. How does Vince describe the company’s possible future situation of having lots
more money to spend?

Copyright Ó 2022 Business English Pod Ltd. All rights reserved. www.businessenglishpod.com 1
Vocabulary

To preserve: to maintain or keep something from being lost or changed; “We had a
great relationship with government, but the new CEO couldn’t preserve that
relationship.”

Status quo: the current situation; “Some people want us to change, but I’m pretty
happy with the status quo.”

To go for broke: to risk everything on an opportunity; “When I was 30 I went for

broke and put all my savings into my own little tech start-up.”

Lean times: a period of time when there’s not much money; “During the lean times
of the late 1990s, we downsized our offices and let go a lot of staff.”

To save something for a rainy day: to save money in case of future need; “I want
to spend my bonus on a trip to Mexico but my wife thinks we should save it for a
rainy day.”

To seize an opportunity: to act quickly to use an opportunity; “If this big company
wants to partner with us now, then let’s seize the opportunity and see what
happens!”

To make money hand over fist: to earn a lot of money; “Our apps made money
hand over fist in the early days of mobile phones, but now there’s just so much
competition.”

To loop back to: to return back to an earlier topic of discussion; “At the end of the
meeting, can we loop back to that issue of declining sales you just mentioned?”

To throw good money after bad: to continue spending money on a bad idea; “We
threw good money after bad at the website developer before realizing he wasn’t
going to produce what we needed.”

Remote: if an employee works from home or away from the company’s office, they
are “remote;” “I’ll be remote next Wednesday, so if you want to meet in person
maybe we could do Thursday or Friday?”

Dirt cheap: very inexpensive; “I know this car looks pretty pricey, but I bought it
dirt cheap from my uncle.”

To host: to have guests in a place; “We’re hosting a group of about 30 for a client
appreciation event next week.”

Walk-ins: customers who enter a business without prior planning; “If we don’t have
any walk-ins, why do we need someone at the front desk at all times?”

Copyright Ó 2022 Business English Pod Ltd. All rights reserved. 2

Workforce planning: the process of analyzing, forecasting, and planning staffing
requirements for a business; “During our recent workforce planning session, we
realized we really need to recruit for the marketing team.”

Down the road: in the future; “I’m happy with my job for now, but down the road I
may decide to open my own business.”

Deep pockets: having a lot of money; “Looks like Tillman Brothers have pretty deep
pockets, considering how many big companies they’ve bought up in the past couple
of years.”

Bang for your buck: a lot of benefit for the amount of money; “The MacBooks are
nice, but expensive, and I think we’d get better bang for our buck getting Asus
laptops for the staff.”

To subcontract: to pay someone else to do the work you’ve been contracted to do;
“We don’t have the right equipment to repair this machine but we can subcontract
it to another company we often work with.”

Skillset: the combination of skills required to do a particular job; “Tom really wants
to move from marketing into sales, but I don’t think he has the right skillset.”

To cost an arm and a leg: to be very expensive; “Sure, I’d love to fly business class
to Europe, but it costs an arm and a leg!”

Nothing ventured, nothing gained: if you don’t risk anything, you won’t profit;
“Sure, it’s a risky venture, but I think you should go for it. As they say, nothing
ventured, nothing gained.”

To make ends meet: to have just enough money to survive; “We were just making
ends meet until we landed our first big contract.”

To get some air: to go outside, especially for a break or to refresh yourself; “After a
long day at the office, I like to get some air by taking a walk down in Central Park.”

To circle back: to come back to a previous topic of discussion or issue; “Before we

get into the financial statements, can we circle back to that staff issue you brought
up earlier?”

Copyright Ó 2022 Business English Pod Ltd. All rights reserved. 3

Dialog

Vince: We can work with contractors without being on the hook for benefits,
everything else… not to mention we don’t really have the space for more staff. So I
don’t see how this would work…

Shelly: So you’re looking to preserve the status quo?

Vince: Not exactly. Or not forever. I mean we can’t go for broke because of one
massive project. We’ve had some pretty lean times over the past few years.
Maybe we need to save something for a rainy day.

Martin: I think we’ve got to seize the opportunity. Companies doing this kind of
work are making money hand over fist.

Vince: Most of them have been doing it a while. We haven’t.

Martin: Well, we have to start somewhere. And just to loop back to that space
issue… It feels like we’re throwing good money after bad on this downtown
lease. Especially now that much of the team is remote half the time. There’s good
space on the south side that’s dirt cheap.

Shelly: Yeah, it’s not like we host clients or have walk-ins or anything.

Vince: But that’s another issue altogether. Aren’t we meant to be focused on

workforce planning? This project begins, what, three months from now? Some
day down the road when we have deep pockets, maybe. But now’s not the time.

Shelly: Fair point.

Vince: Regardless, I think we’ll get way more bang for our buck if we continue
subcontracting the work we don’t have the skillset for.

Martin: In the short-term, maybe. Not long-term.

Vince: It’s risky Martin. It’ll cost us an arm and a leg.

Martin: Well, nothing ventured nothing gained. If not now, then when? Are we
going to be satisfied just making ends meet for the next three years? I think
we’re in a good position and we need to take some risks now.

Shelly: Okay… Well, it doesn’t sound like we’re close to agreeing here so how
about we take a break? Get some air, then circle back to this in 20 minutes?

Copyright Ó 2022 Business English Pod Ltd. All rights reserved. 4

Debrief

Now let’s go through the dialog again and look at the idioms used in the
conversation. The group has been debating the difference between using
contractors, which is cheaper, or hiring permanent staff, which helps build the team
but is more expensive.

Vince: We can work with contractors without being on the hook for benefits,
everything else… not to mention we don’t really have the space for more staff. So I
don’t see how this would work…

Shelly: So you’re looking to preserve the status quo?

Vince: Not exactly. Or not forever. I mean we can’t go for broke because of one
massive project.

To Shelly, it sounds like Vince wants things to stay the way they are, which we call
“preserving the status quo.” But Vince explains that he’s not suggesting they use
contractors forever, just that they can’t “go for broke” at this time.

This expression comes from gambling, where “going for broke” means betting all
your money on one thing. So if you lose, you end up “broke,” or have no money.
More generally, going for broke means risking a lot on one opportunity or chance.
Vince is suggesting that hiring permanent staff is too risky right now.

Let’s practice this idiom “to go for broke” with a short dialog.

To go for broke – to risk everything on an opportunity.

A: I heard you quit your job?

B: Yeah, I decided to go for broke and start my own business.

So what does Vince suggest they do with their money?

Vince: We’ve had some pretty lean times over the past few years. Maybe we need
to save something for a rainy day.

“Lean times” are periods when a person or business doesn’t have much money.
Vince wants to protect the company against possible future lean times by “saving
money for a rainy day.”

In this case, a “rainy day” is a time of difficulty, or “lean times.” If you save money
for a rainy day, you’re keeping it on hand in case you need it in the future. Overall,
this is a less risky approach than spending the money when you have it.

What are some other ways we can talk about “saving money for a rainy day?” Let’s
run through some more examples.

Copyright Ó 2022 Business English Pod Ltd. All rights reserved. 5

To save money for a rainy day – to save money in case of future needs.

§ With so much uncertainty, I would feel safer if we saved this extra income for a
rainy day.
§ Instead of saving money for a rainy day, we need to invest and grow the company.

Vince’s cautious approach clearly differs from Martin’s preferred strategy, as we can
hear.

Martin: I think we’ve got to seize the opportunity. Companies doing this kind of
work are making money hand over fist.

The project their company has been awarded is in a sector they haven’t done much
work in so far. To Martin, this is an “opportunity” they must “seize.” In other words,
they should accept some risk and take a chance by investing in permanent staff.

Martin is thinking about the money they can make from this new line of work. As he
says, other companies doing this work are “making money hand over fist.” This
idiom simply means to earn a lot of money. It actually comes from sailing, where it
refers to how a person climbs a rope or pulls a rope hand over hand to make
progress.

But the expression has evolved over time to simply mean making a lot of money.
Let’s practice some more ways of using this idiom “to make money hand over fist.”

To make money hand over fist – to earn a lot of money.

§ During the pandemic Zoom was making money hand over fist as many
companies went virtual.
§ With so many new customers, we’ll soon be making money hand over fist!

Now back to the dialog, as Martin wants to “loop back to” – or return to – Vince’s
comment about whether the company has enough space for more staff.

Vince: Most of them have been doing it a while. We haven’t.

Martin: Well, we have to start somewhere. And just to loop back to that space
issue… It feels like we’re throwing good money after bad on this downtown
lease. Especially now that much of the team is remote half the time.

The company currently has a lease on office space downtown, or the city center.
But Martin doesn’t think that’s wise, particularly because a lot of the team works
“remotely,” or from home. Martin describes this situation as “throwing good money
after bad.”

When you “throw good money after bad,” you are continuing to spend money on a
bad idea. In this case, the bad idea is having office space downtown. And Martin
feels this is wasteful, or a poor use of good money.

Copyright Ó 2022 Business English Pod Ltd. All rights reserved. 6

Let’s try this idiom “to throw good money after bad” with a few more examples.

To throw good money after bad – to continue spending money on a bad idea.

§ If these contractors can’t deliver, let’s stop throwing good money after bad and
just fire them.
§ I don’t see the sense of throwing good money after bad if there’s no market for this.

Martin continues talking about office space by suggesting an alternative area.

Martin: There’s good space on the south side that’s dirt cheap.

Dirt is soil, or the basic material of the earth. Dirt is everywhere and freely
available. So if something is “dirt cheap,” like office space on the south side, it’s
simply very cheap.

Let’s practice some more ways of using this idiom “dirt cheap.”

Dirt cheap – very inexpensive.

§ We don’t have much money, so we need something that’s dirt cheap.

§ I was lucky to get these office chairs dirt cheap with a 50% discount.

Shelly agrees with Martin on the issue of space, but Vince wants to bring them back
to “workforce planning,” or discussing staffing. Let’s listen.

Shelly: Yeah, it’s not like we host clients or have walk-ins or anything.

Vince: But that’s another issue altogether. Aren’t we meant to be focused on

workforce planning? This project begins, what, three months from now? Some
day down the road when we have deep pockets, maybe. But now’s not the time.

Again, Vince is emphasizing the timing of growing their team. He notes that the big
project that will bring them a lot of money doesn’t start for another three months.
So he’s not suggesting they never build up the team, just that now is not the time.

But “down the road,” or in the future, the situation might be different. Or, as Vince
says, they might have “deep pockets.” Pockets, in your pants or your coat, are
where you might carry money. And if those pockets are “deep,” then it means you
can carry a lot of money.

These days, having “deep pockets” simply means having a lot of money. We use it
not just about individuals, but about companies that are large and wealthy. Let’s
practice talking about “deep pockets” with a short dialog.

Deep pockets – having a lot of money.

A: Where are we going to get the money to expand into Latin America?
B: Well, our investors have deep pockets, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

Copyright Ó 2022 Business English Pod Ltd. All rights reserved. 7

Now let’s get back to the dialog, as Vince talks about the benefits of
“subcontracting,” or hiring contractors rather than permanent staff.

Shelly: Fair point.

Vince: Regardless, I think we’ll get way more bang for our buck if we continue
subcontracting the work we don’t have the skillset for.

This expression “bang for your buck” comes from the military, or the world of
bombs and explosives. A “buck” is a dollar, or money in general. And “more bang
for your buck” means a bigger explosion or bigger impact for the same amount of
money.

Nowadays we use the term more broadly to mean anything that brings you greater
benefits compared to another option. So it refers to the idea of value. “Bang for
your buck” is the ultimate goal of spending money wisely. Let’s run through some
more ways of using this idiom.

Bang for your buck – a lot of benefit for the amount of money.

§ With reasonable prices and quality materials, we offer excellent bang for your buck!
§ The best bang for your buck is a high yield savings account.

Vince has been trying hard to persuade Martin of the risks of building the team, but
it doesn’t sound like he’s convinced.

Martin: In the short-term, maybe. Not long-term.

Vince: It’s risky Martin. It’ll cost us an arm and a leg.

Once again, Vince is emphasizing the costs of hiring a bunch of new employees,
relative to hiring contractors. And this time, he uses the expression “to cost an arm
and a leg.”

Imagine paying for something by giving the seller an arm and a leg. That’s a heavy
price to pay! So when we say that something “costs an arm and a leg,” we’re
saying it is very expensive. Let’s run through some more ways to use this idiom “to
cost an arm and a leg.”

To cost an arm and a leg – to be very expensive.

§ I’d love to get a new Tesla, but they cost an arm and a leg.
§ It costs an arm and a leg to fly these days, so let’s do these meetings virtually.

So has Vince finally convinced Martin? Let’s find out.

Martin: Well, nothing ventured nothing gained. If not now, then when?

Copyright Ó 2022 Business English Pod Ltd. All rights reserved. 8

No, clearly Martin is not convinced. And he emphasizes his basic approach with the
idiom “nothing ventured nothing gained.” You can think of “venture” as risk. So, if
you risk nothing, what do you gain? Nothing.

This idiom captures Martin’s philosophy perfectly. He believes you need to risk
money to earn money. How else can we use this expression “nothing ventured
nothing gained?” Let’s try a short dialog for practice.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained – if you don’t risk anything, you won’t profit.

A: Don’t you think it’s risky to invest in this now?

B: Well, risk is part of business. You know, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

What’s the alternative to taking some risks? Let’s hear how Martin summarizes
Vince’s opinion with a pointed question.

Martin: Are we going to be satisfied just making ends meet for the next three
years? I think we’re in a good position and we need to take some risks now.

To Martin, not taking risks means being satisfied just “making ends meet.” If you
make ends meet, you have enough money to pay your bills and survive. Making
ends meet is a good thing for many people in many circumstances.

But if a business “just makes ends meet,” then it’s doing little more than just
surviving. The point of business, of course, is to grow and generate profits. And
when Martin asks if they should be satisfied just making ends meet, he’s suggesting
that Vince is lacking ambition.

Let’s try some more ways of using this idiom “to make ends meet.”

To make ends meet – to have just enough money to survive.

§ As inflation soars many families are finding it difficult to make ends meet.
§ We’re just making ends meet now, so I don’t see how we can afford this.

Now let’s finish off the dialog with Shelly’s final comment.

Shelly: Okay… Well, it doesn’t sound like we’re close to agreeing here so how
about we take a break? Get some air, then circle back to this in 20 minutes?

As Shelly emphasizes, and as we’ve heard all along, Martin and Vince simply can’t
agree. So she suggests taking a break, or “getting some air” before “circling,” or
coming, back to the discussion later. Hopefully, that will help get everyone to agree
on an approach to take when it comes to hiring staff.

Now let’s practice some of the idioms from this lesson. In a moment, you’ll hear a
series of sentences. Each sentence will be followed by a beep. After the beep, you
need to restate or rephrase the sentence using one of the idioms we learned today.

Copyright Ó 2022 Business English Pod Ltd. All rights reserved. 9

When you listen to the sentence, think about which idea can be replaced by one of
the idioms.

For example, if you hear:

Example Cue: I’m getting really tired of just having enough money to survive.

You can say:

Example Answer: I’m getting really tired of just making ends meet.

After each response, we’ll provide the correct answer. Ready? Let’s give it a go.

Cue 1: Brian, it looks like the monitor you want is very expensive.
Answer:

Cue 2: If we invest in the right business, we could make a lot of money!

Answer:

Cue 3: You’ll get more value if you buy direct from the manufacturer.
Answer:

Cue 4: After such a profitable year, it’s nice to finally have a lot of money.
Answer:

Cue 5: I’ve decided to risk everything and start my own company.

Answer:

Cue 6: There was a sale at Staples so I got these very inexpensive storage containers.
Answer:

Answer 1: Brian, it looks like the monitor you want costs an arm and a leg.
Answer 2: If we invest in the right business, we could make money hand over fist.
Answer 3: You’ll get more bang for your buck if you buy direct from the manufacturer.
Answer 4: After such a profitable year, it’s nice to finally have deep pockets.
Answer 5: I’ve decided to go for broke and start my own company.
Answer 6: There was a sale at Staples so I got these dirt cheap storage containers.

We’ve reached the end of this lesson, the second in our two-part series on idioms
we use to talk about spending money. As we’ve seen, people don’t always agree on
how money should be spent. And to discuss how to spend or save money, English
has lots of great idioms.

Thanks for listening. And see again soon!

Copyright Ó 2022 Business English Pod Ltd. All rights reserved. 10

Language Review

A. Identifying Idioms

Make idioms from this lesson by matching words from each column.

1 To make money A Cheap

2 Dirt B Pockets
3 Bang for C Ends meet
4 To cost D Your buck
5 To make E An arm and a leg
6 Deep F Broke
7 To save money for G Hand over fist
8 To go for H A rainy day

B. Idioms in Use

Fill in the blanks with the words below. Make sure you put verbs in the correct tense.

cheap deep broke cost

meet save throw hand

1. If we have such _____________ pockets, then we shouldn’t have to worry

about throwing a big launch party.

2. I’ve decided to go for _____________ and invest in my brother’s new

consulting company.

3. Let’s stop _____________ good money after bad and just get out of this
terrible leasing situation.

4. It feels pretty good after such a difficult time just to make ends
_____________ for a while.

5. What an event! I bet this _____________ the organizers an arm and a leg to
put on.

6. If we sign up for a corporate account with the hotel chain, we can get rooms for
dirt _____________.

7. Instead of spending this money, I really think we should be careful and

_____________ it for a rainy day.

8. With such limited supply, oil companies are really making money
_____________ over fist these days.

Copyright Ó 2022 Business English Pod Ltd. All rights reserved. 11

Study Strategy

There’s an old saying that you have to spend money to make money. However, there
are times when it’s smarter to save your money for future opportunities. It all depends
on your tolerance for risk and your investment strategy.

Imagine an old family friend has asked you to give him advice on how to invest his
money. He is considering investing in companies in the industry you work in, and he
wants you to lay out some different options. What’s a good bet and what’s a bad bet?
How much should he invest and how much should he save? And how might you use the
idioms you’ve learned in this lesson in this kind of conversation? With a partner, try
writing a dialog in which you give your old family friend different options for investing
or saving his money. Try to use as many of today’s idioms as possible.

Answers

Listening Questions

1. Martin says that companies in the sector are making money hand over fist.
2. Martin says that office space on the south side of the city is dirt cheap.
3. Vince says that some day in the future they might have deep pockets.

Language Review

A. Identifying Idioms

1. G; 2. A; 3. D; 4. E; 5. C; 6. B; 7. H; 8. F

B. Idioms in Use

1. If we have such deep pockets, then we shouldn’t have to worry about throwing
a big launch party.
2. I’ve decided to go for broke and invest in my brother’s new consulting
company.
3. Let’s stop throwing good money after bad and just get out of this terrible
leasing situation.
4. It feels pretty good after such a difficult time just to make ends meet for a
while.
5. What an event! I bet this cost the organizers an arm and a leg to put on.
6. If we sign up for a corporate account with the hotel chain, we can get rooms for
dirt cheap.
7. Instead of spending this money, I really think we should be careful and save it
for a rainy day.
8. With such limited supply, oil companies are really making money hand over fist
these days.

Copyright Ó 2022 Business English Pod Ltd. All rights reserved. 12