When listening, parrot back what you have heard to show you are paying attention and ask open ended questions so that the speaker will go into further detail about the topic.
A reply to an invitation must be a definite acceptance or refusal. An open ended or ambiguous acceptance is not satisfactory.
Again, a vague, open ended goal like "save more money" leaves you too much wiggle room and makes it far too easy to never do so much as get started.
