TOEFL Writing Topic
Is it better to enjoy your money when you earn it or is it better to save your money for some time in the future? Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.
TOEFL Writing Sample Answer
Traditionally, it is a wise man who saves for a rainy day while a fool squanders what he earns. This could be extrapolated to represent either a long-term or short-term view of life. However, nowadays most people would agree that a balance of the two is the best option.
While saving money has been seen as the traditional way to provide for retirement after work and a reasonably comfortable lifestyle in the golden years of life, the employment landscape has changed considerably since this dogma was generally accepted as the smart thing to do. Many young people now will experience much greater job mobility than their parents and especially their grandparents did. A single job-related pension scheme will cease to be the major source of retirement income after a working career of some 25 years or so. People nowadays can look forward to working for a variety of different employers, possibly in a variety of different work-related fields, and working for much longer. We can see this already as the state retirement age is gradually increased in many countries. As people live longer they will also be expected to work longer. Subsequently, this means that if they wait for retirement to spend their money, as previous generations may have done, they will be waiting a lot longer to enjoy their financial freedom.
The present global economy also offers many people the possibility of making money in alternative ways to simply working in a traditional office or factory-based job for a certain number of years. More and more people are involved in earning money online, investing, and other income-generating activities that were not available to previous generations. Another crucial aspect of the mix is the current cultural leaning toward instant gratification in all aspects of life. We might say that younger generations are less likely to have the patience to wait for many years while saving for possible future events. There is very much an emphasis on ‘the now’ for young people. Therefore, it is perfectly feasible that people could quite happily spend a substantial part of their money on enjoying life while they are young and carefree and have good earning power. Later, they can dedicate themselves to fiscal consolidation as they become older and still have time to accumulate a sufficiently large financial fund to see them through their retirement years.
As the economic climate continues to change rapidly it would be wise to plan for both the short-term and long-term to make the most of the opportunities in life and still be financially comfortable in later years.