Money & Finance — Part 1
The Celpip Plus team
Written and reviewed against the official CELPIP scoring criteria
What you'll learn: the verb + noun collocations native speakers use to talk about earning, spending, saving, and borrowing money — the backbone vocabulary for CELPIP Writing Task 1 emails and Speaking Task 4 predictions about money.
Why verb + noun pairs matter here
Money and finance prompts show up constantly on the CELPIP test — an email asking a friend for budgeting advice, a survey response about spending habits, a speaking task about a shared expense. Raters notice when a test-taker reaches for "make a profit" instead of the flatter "get money" or "do good business." These verb + noun pairs are the fastest, lowest-effort way to sound like a fluent, financially literate speaker.
Core collocations
| Collocation | Meaning | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| save money | put money aside instead of spending it | We're trying to save money by cooking at home more often. |
| spend money | use money to buy something | I don't want to spend money on a gym I'll never visit. |
| earn a living | make enough money to support yourself | She earns a living as a freelance graphic designer. |
| make a profit | earn more than you originally spent | The bakery finally started to make a profit after two slow years. |
| pay off a debt | fully repay money that is owed | It took him five years to pay off his student debt. |
| take out a loan | borrow a set amount of money from a bank | We took out a loan to cover the cost of the renovation. |
| open a bank account | start a formal account with a financial institution | New immigrants often open a bank account within their first week in Canada. |
| withdraw cash | take money out of an account | I need to withdraw cash before the weekend market opens. |
| set a budget | plan in advance how much you will spend | Our family sets a budget at the start of every month. |
| invest in stocks | put money into shares, hoping they grow in value | My uncle invests in stocks instead of keeping his savings in a regular account. |
| cut costs | reduce expenses | The company had to cut costs after losing its biggest client. |
| raise funds | collect money, usually for a specific purpose | The school is raising funds for a new playground. |
Worked example — CELPIP Writing Task 1
Prompt: Write an email to a friend giving advice about managing money after a recent pay cut.
Hi Amir,
I'm sorry to hear about the pay cut — that's never easy. One thing that helped me during a similar stretch was learning to set a budget at the very start of the month rather than reacting after the money was already gone. I also started tracking every time I spend money on non-essentials, which made it obvious where I could cut costs without feeling deprived. If you're carrying any high-interest debt, it's worth prioritizing that first — I know a coworker who took out a loan to consolidate hers and ended up paying far less interest overall. And don't be discouraged if you can't save money every single month; even earning a living through a tough patch is an achievement in itself.
Let me know if you want to compare notes sometime.
Take care,
Priya
Common mistakes
- Saying "do a profit" or "get a profit" instead of make a profit.
- Reversing the word order of "take out a loan" to "take a loan out" — both exist, but "take out a loan" is the more natural default.
- Using "earn money" and "earn a living" interchangeably — "earn a living" implies enough income to support yourself, not just any income.
- Writing "make an economy" (a direct translation from French/Spanish) instead of the correct English collocation cut costs or save money.
- Pairing "budget" with "do" instead of "set" — "set a budget," not "do a budget."
Recap
Anchor your money vocabulary around these twelve verb + noun pairs — save/spend money, earn a living, make a profit, pay off a debt, take out a loan, open an account, withdraw cash, set a budget, invest in stocks, cut costs, raise funds — and you'll have a ready-made backbone for almost any CELPIP finance prompt.