Emelt szintű érettségi/10.

Gazdaság

Family budget:
One of the hardest things about making a budget and managing money can be keeping track
of what you spend. Spending can be regular (fixed expenses) or irregular or once-off (variable
expenses).

Fixed expenses:

- house repayments or rent

- utilities – gas, electricity, water, phone and internet

- council fees and land taxes

- school or tertiary study fees

- health, car and household insurance

- credit card and personal loan repayments.

Variable expenses:

- food

- home maintenance and household goods

- school uniforms, textbooks and stationery

- medical and dental fees

- car repairs and petrol

- public transport

- personal items like clothing and haircuts

- holidays

- entertainment

Income: The amount of money I actually receive is my net wages or net salary. It is, of
course, considerably less than my gross salaray, the amount of which is written at the top
of my salary slip. The reason for this is that various deductions are made, for example
income tax, the percentage of which depends on the total amount of you annual income,
social security and superannuation contributions, which is ten per cent of your salary,
and unemployment contribution, which is one per cent.
Most professional and clerical workers receive a monthly salary. They get
their salary slips together with the pay on one of the first five days of every month. In most
professions and some white-collar jobs overtime is not paid. Manual workers receive a
wage, half of which is paid out in the first, and the other half in the second part of the month.
Certain professional people who are completely or partly self-employed charge fees for
their services. Manual workers’ earnings may comprise several elements such as the basic
wage (basic hourly rate), overtime, premium payments for shift-work, and bonuses
(piecework, production or efficiency bonuses, for instance). It seems to me that in today’s
Hungary bank managers and businessmen earn the most.
Savings begin to accumulate when incomes
more than cover the staple needs. People begin to save when there is enough money for
all that is needed in the family. Most people save for a flat, a plot of land, a weekend
cottage or for holidays abroad. Nowadays, a lot of people save for the tuition of their
children. There are some people who save for a car or put money aside to purchase durable
consumer goods or new furniture. Although you can get loans from banks to buy these things,
the interest rates are rather high for most people to choose this option.

Shopping:

In a consumer society, people spend a lot of their time shopping. Actually, it is the hobby
to do some shopping and not necessarily for goods that you actually need. In Hungary, the
change of the regime brought about changes in people’s shopping habits as a lot of shopping
malls appeared to satisfy the needs of people who can afford to buy even the most expensive
items. A lot of multinational hypermarkets have appeared, which sell a lot of things cheaper
than smaller shops.
Nowadays there are several ways of shopping. What you choose it depends on what
you want to buy. In recent years, shopping has become the most common way for people
in Western societies to acquire food. Instead of growing their own vegetables, meats, or
grains, or baking their own bread, people visit their local supermarkets, delis corner shops,
or food markets to acquire foodstuffs, increasingly also shopping online. My mother/father
does our family’s everyday shopping, and I usually go with her/him. We are regular
customers at the nearby supermarkets so we are served very politely. Supermarkets sell
almost everything that a family needs. I walk about the shop filling my plastic basket from
the shelves. The goods are tidily arranged on trays and long shelves on which the various
prices are clearly marked or the good themselves are labelled.
People use services, like hairdresser, plumber, etc. Postal services are the most
popular and essential services in our world. The Post Office maintains a national
network of post office branches, post boxes, mail centres, and a fleet of vehicles for
transporting mail. It employs a large workforce to collect, sort, handle and deliver mail.
Traditional facilities offered by the Post Office: Letters, postcards, telegrams, media mail
and parcels can be sent inland and abroad. Mail is collected from pillar boxes and post
offices, is prepared for delivery, and is delivered by postmen. Postal rates depend on the
distance, weight and shape of your mail and the required add-on service. Standard mail
can be sent at uniform charges. Other postal services: post code and address databases,
delivery of newspapers, magazines, postage and packaging supplies, financial services
(money orders, foreign currency, insurance, loans, savings, investment) and others (licence
and passport applications, government forms, lottery, gifts, phone cards).The Post Office
faces strong competition from banks, the Internet and private postal businesses and it
has to take significant measures to keep pace with competition, by focussing on cost-
effectiveness and modernisation.

Consumer society:

We live in a trowaway society. People throw away clothes that are in good condition but out
of fashion. The technological progress is so fast that a few months after you buy a new
computer, it becomes obsolete and is worth a fragment of its original value. Ethical
shopping is a controversial issue nowadays. Many people want to know more about the
products they buy. They want to know how people, animals and our planet are treated
when food, drinks and clothes are produced.
Advertising is a crucial element of business and shopping. Since the 20th century,
with the invention of the radio, television and the Internet, and in conjunction with
explosive global economic growth, advertising has become omnipresent. In general,
adversiting makes use of two closely connected human feelings – desires and fears.
Advertisers try to convince people (by using gimmicks) that particular products can
enhance their lifestyles. Advertisers also send the message that purchasing products are
solutions to one’s worries. Advertising messages, which range in complexity from simply
notices to complex advertising campaigns, reach the public through numerous channels:
advertising materials are mailed, delivered, exhibited, broadcast and digitalised in order to
attract prospective buyers.
Advertising itself generates employment and provides a great career opportunity for
the creative. Adverts create consumer awareness. In developed countries advertising is
tightly regulated. Advertisements help finance the media. Commercial TV and radio
industries depend on ads.

Businesses affect the societies in which they operate. A sole trader running a small
grocery store may benefit local residents by opening for a few hours on a Sunday. On the
other hand such a business may have negative effects. Canned drinks bought from the shop
may be left in the street. Opening on a Sunday may lead to more traffic in the area.
Governments often pass laws and set regulations to control the conduct of
businesses. Consumer laws try to ensure that businesses do not deliberately mislead
consumers. Employment laws attempt to provide safe working conditions and set standards
for working hours and payments.
Businesses have tended to be influenced mainly by customers, employees and
shareholders. Increasingly, however, other groups are affecting business behaviour. For
example, some businesses will only supply their products to other businesses that have an
ethical or environmental policy. Some pension companies will not invest in businesses that
sell arms. This suggests that businesses need to have a greater social responsibility to groups
beyond those immediately involved in the business. Businesses are becoming more and
more aware of the need to consider the environment in their operations. Some of the negative
effects of business activity include:

 air pollution caused by the discharge of emissions into the atmosphere and traffic
visiting retail outlets;
 water pollution as a result of the dumping of waste;
 congestion from employees going to work or consumers visiting retail outlets;
 noise from factories and traffic;
 destruction of natural habitats from the building of premises.

The government and the EU have planning regulations and legislation affecting the location
of businesses. Taxes on petrol and diesel are often raised in an attempt to reduce the use of
transport.
Money in a modern economy performs important functions: It serves as a medium of
exchange and facilitates the buying and selling of goods.

- Primary functions also called fundamental and original functions like the medium of
exchange and measure of value.

- Secondary functions like standard of deferred payments, store of value and transfer of value.

- Contingent functions like distribution of income, measurement and maximisation of utility

etc.

Financial services:

The finance industry plays an important part in our lives. It manages our money by
providing banking services, investment opportunities and insurance policies.

- Common banking services:

 current account: you deposit or withdraw money;

 direct debit, standing order: the banks makes your regular payments so you do not
need to pay by cheque;
 deposit account, savings account: you are paid interest on your deposit;
 personal loan: you borrow money from the bank for personal and household use;
 mortgage: you take it out to buy a home; and you pay it back in fixed monthly
payments for a longer term;
 chequebooks and cards: you use them to pay for goods and services, instead of cash;
 traveller's cheques, foreign currency: you buy for trips abroad.

- Banking services are available anywhere, anytime:

 You are provided face-to-face service in a branch of the bank.

 Banks operate ATM machines, providing a wide array of transactions.
 Internet (online) banking is a quick and convenient of managing your finances. It
offers further facilities: searching and downloading statements, viewing the history of
your transactions, checking your real time balance, transferring money between
accounts, comparing banking services in order to find the best offers.

- Common reasons for anti-bank sentiments: short and inconvenient opening hours; profit
mongering, high charges and fees, low rates of interest; losing customers' money.
- Insurance policies:

 Insurance provides protection against financial losses from potential risks.

 All-risks single insurance policies cover financial losses caused by: death, illness,
injury, natural disasters, human disasters, economic disasters.
 Common insurance policies: life, accident, health, property, car, travel, pet, liability

- Types of Banks:

 The Central Bank:

 serves as the government's banker and advises the government
 collects government income and manages government debt
 acts as lender to provide the necessary liquidity
 decides and implements monetary policy
 acts as the banker of the banking system and has control over it
 supervises other banks' operations and is a lender of last resort
 regulates the monetary system, sets national interest rates and issues
banknotes.
 The central bank of the UK is the Bank of England, called "The Old Lady of
Threadneedle Street"; the central bank of the US is the Federal Reserve Bank,
called "Fed". The central bank of Hungary is Magyar Nemzeti Bank.
 Commercial banks: The most important English commercial banks are the "big
four": National Westminster, Barclays, Llyods TSB and HSBC. In the US there are
over 14,000 different commercial banks. In Hungary the most-known bank is OTP.
Services provided by commercial banks:
 You can open a current account
 You write a cheque
 You deposit or cash a cheque
 If you overdraw
 You can open a deposit or savings account
 With a standing order, direct debit or banker's order
 By automated transfer
 You use a cash dispense
 You can get a loan from the bank
  You can get a mortgage if you want to buy a house.
 Foreign currency
 Other services: insurance policies, stock markets securities

Postal services: Postal services are a branch of public utilities, provided traditionally by
the Post Office. The Post Office maintains a national network of post office branches,
post boxes, mail centres, and a fleet of vehicles for transporting mail. It employs a large
workforce to collect, sort, handle and deliver mail. Traditional facilities offered by the Post
Office: Letters, postcards, telegrams, media mail and parcels can be sent inland and
abroad. Mail is collected from pillar boxes and post offices, is prepared for delivery, and is
delivered by postmen. Postal rates depend on the distance, weight and shape of your mail
and the required add-on service. Standard mail can be sent at uniform charges. Sending
items for the blind is a free service.

The Post Office offers a wide variety of add-on services:

- Services reducing the time of delivery (first class pot, priority mail, express mail: delivery
on the day or the next day of posting), time-guaranteed delivery (postage is refunded if your
mail is late), airmail (mail sent abroad).

- Services enhancing security: registered post(proofs of posting and delivery), cash on

delivery (the recipient pays on delivery), fragile mail (handled with special care), insurance
(against loss and damage), courier service (fastest, safest, most confidential).

- Services providing more comfort: door-to-door (packages and bulk mail are collected
from your home), PO Boksz (flexible pick-up, anonymity, security), redirection (if your
address changes, your mail is redirected from your old address to your forwarding address),
hold mail (your mail is not delivered until you return home), poste restante (mail is held at a
chosen post office branch home or abroad).

- Services offerered to businesses: Collection and delivery services (collection of the

outbond mail from the premises of your business), timed delivery (incoming mail is delivered
sorted at the agreed time), early collect (picking up mail in the early hours), security screening
(to detect hazardous items in the post).

- Marketing mail services: mailing list management, direct mail (delivery of addressed and
undressed mailshots), returning mail (delivery of postage-paid envelopes and reply cards).
- Logistic services: Mailroom management (the Post Office manages the outbond and
inbound mail of your business).

- Electronic Post Office: using data provided in digital format, the Post Office prepares and
posts your mail.

- Discounts: rates depend on the quantity and processibility of mai.

- Other postal services:

 Post-related services:
 post code and address databases;
 delivery of newspapers, magazines;
 postage and packaging supplies;
 stamps for everyday use and special issues for collectors;
 customised postage: create and print your own stamps online.
 Non-postal services:
 financial services: money orders, foreign currency, insurance, loans, savings,
investment;
 others: licence and passport applications, government forms, lottery, gifts,
phone cards.

The Post Office faces strong competition from banks, the Internet and private postal
businesses and it has to take significant measures to keep pace with competition, by focusing
on cost-effectiveness and modernisation.