thriftiness

the tendency to save money

TRANSLATION

Sparsamkeit

STATISTICS

IN THE PRESS

The THRIFTY bank customer.

In the 1960s in Richmond, Surrey, a well-dressed man walked into a Barclay's bank and asked the manager if he could open an account.

"Sure," said the manager, "how much do you want to deposit?"

"Actually I don't want to deposit, I want to borrow 10 pounds for 6 months" answered the man.

"This is very irregular," said the manager "can you offer security?"

"I can leave you my car" said the man.

"OK" said the manager after a moment's thought, "just complete these forms, and park your car in our garage - you can pick up your loan at the counter in return for your car keys".

After 6 months the man returned, dutifully gave back the £10, and asked for his car keys.

"Not so fast," said the manager "you have to pay 10% interest,.. that'll be an extra pound!"

The man paid the pound, and received his car keys. As he was leaving the manager asked "Tell me, why did you only want to borrow £10?"

"Where else can I garage my car for 6 months for just £1" he answered.

Did you
know?

thrifty

adj

1: careful and diligent in the use of resources

2: mindful of the future in spending money;

Synonyms:

canny, careful, chary, cheapie, chintzy, close, close-fisted, conserving, dirt cheap, el cheapo, frugal, parsimonious, penny-pinching, preserving, provident, prudent, saving, Scotch, scrimpy, skimpy, sparing, steal, stingy, tight, unwasteful

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