Everyday Money
59 Everyday Money terms, defined in plain English — part of the 1345-term Finicade finance glossary. Each one has its own page, and links to the free game that teaches it.
- Assets and Liabilities
- Assets are what you own that has value — cash, investments, a home; liabilities are what you owe — loans, credit-card balances, a mortgage.
- Autopay
- Autopay authorises a company to pull a payment from your account on a schedule.
- Beneficiary
- A beneficiary is the person or entity you name to receive an account or policy when you die — a pension, a life insurance policy, a bank account.
- Bonus
- A bonus is variable pay on top of salary — annual, performance-based, signing, or retention.
- Bounced Check
- A check or payment bounces when your account lacks the funds to cover it, so the bank returns it unpaid.
- Budget
- A plan for where your money goes before it goes there.
- Cash Flow
- The timing of money in versus money out.
- Cash Stuffing
- Cash stuffing is the envelope method rebuilt for social media: withdraw your budget as cash, sort it into labelled pockets, and spend only what's in them.
- Cashier's Check
- A cashier's check is drawn on the bank's own funds after it takes the money from your account, so it carries the bank's guarantee rather than yours.
- Certificate of Deposit (CD)
- A CD is a deposit locked with a bank for a fixed term — three months to five years — in exchange for a fixed interest rate.
- Checking Account
- A checking account is the account money flows through — salary in, bills and card payments out — designed for access rather than return.
- Commission
- Commission is pay calculated as a share of what you sell — a percentage of revenue, premium, or transaction value.
- Cost of Living
- Cost of living is what it takes to cover the basics — housing, food, transport, healthcare, tax — in a particular place.
- Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA)
- A COLA is an automatic pay or benefit increase tied to a published inflation index, designed to hold purchasing power flat rather than to reward performance.
- Custodial Account
- A custodial account holds assets for a minor, managed by an adult until the child reaches the age of majority and the money becomes legally theirs.
- Debt Avalanche
- The debt avalanche pays off your highest-interest debt first while making minimums on everything else — the cheapest possible route out of debt.
- Debt Snowball
- The debt snowball pays off your smallest balance first, then rolls that payment into the next smallest, regardless of interest rate.
- Direct Deposit
- Direct deposit is an employer paying you electronically straight into your bank account rather than by check.
- Discretionary Income
- Discretionary income is what remains after tax and essentials — the money you could stop spending tomorrow without losing your home or your health.
- Disposable Income
- Disposable income is what's left after tax — the money you actually have available to spend or save.
- Emergency Fund
- Cash set aside for the month life goes sideways — job loss, car repair, medical bill.
- Envelope Budgeting
- Envelope budgeting splits your spending money into physical or digital envelopes by category, and when an envelope is empty that category is done for the month.
- Estate Planning
- Estate planning is arranging in advance how your assets, dependants and medical decisions are handled if you die or lose capacity.
- Expenses
- Money going out — rent, food, subscriptions, that late-night delivery.
- Financial Literacy
- Financial literacy is understanding the core money concepts — interest, inflation, diversification, the cost of debt — well enough to make good decisions.
- FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early)
- FIRE is the strategy of saving an extreme share of income — often 40–70% — to build a portfolio large enough that work becomes optional.
- Gig Economy
- The gig economy is labour sold as discrete jobs rather than employment — rideshare, delivery, freelance contracts, platform work.
- Gross Income
- Gross income is what you earn before anything is taken out — tax, pension contributions, insurance, student loan.
- High-Yield Savings Account
- A high-yield savings account pays several times the rate of a standard bank savings account while keeping money instantly accessible and insured.
- Household Income
- Household income is the combined pre-tax income of everyone living at one address — the unit most statistics, mortgage decisions and benefit thresholds use.
- Income
- Money coming in — salary, a side gig, interest, dividends.
- Inheritance
- An inheritance is property or money passed on when someone dies, distributed by their will or, absent one, by intestacy law.
- Joint Account
- A joint account is owned by two or more people, each of whom can typically withdraw the entire balance without the other's consent.
- Lifestyle Inflation
- Lifestyle inflation is the reflex of spending more the moment you earn more, so a raise leaves your savings rate unchanged.
- Living Wage
- A living wage is the pay a full-time worker needs to cover basic local costs — housing, food, transport, childcare — without public assistance.
- Median Income
- Median income is the level where half of earners are above and half below — the middle of the distribution rather than the average.
- Minimum Wage
- The minimum wage is the lowest hourly rate an employer may legally pay.
- Money Market Account
- A money market account is a bank deposit account that pays savings-like interest while offering some checking features, like a debit card and checks.
- Money Order
- A money order is prepaid paper currency for a fixed amount, bought with cash or a debit card and payable to a named recipient.
- Needs vs Wants
- Needs keep your life running (rent, groceries, getting to work); wants make it nicer (streaming, eating out, the newer phone).
- Net Worth
- What you own minus what you owe.
- Overtime Pay
- Overtime pay is the premium rate — commonly 1.5× — owed for hours beyond a legal threshold, typically 40 per week in the US.
- Passive Income
- Passive income is money that keeps arriving without your ongoing labour — dividends, bond coupons, rent, royalties, interest.
- Pay Stub
- A pay stub is the itemised breakdown that comes with your pay: gross earnings at the top, every deduction in the middle, net pay at the bottom.
- Pay Yourself First
- Move money to saving the day you're paid, before it can be spent, instead of hoping something's left at month-end.
- Power of Attorney
- A power of attorney authorises someone to act on your behalf — financially, medically, or both.
- Purchasing Power
- Purchasing power is how much your money actually buys, as opposed to how large the number is.
- Real Return
- The return on an investment after subtracting inflation — what your money can actually buy more of, not just the bigger number.
- Real Wages
- Real wages are pay adjusted for inflation — what your salary actually buys rather than what it says.
- Salary
- A fixed amount an employer pays you over a year, usually split into monthly pay.
- Savings Account
- A bank account that keeps your money safe and pays a little interest, while staying instantly accessible.
- Savings Rate
- Your savings rate is the share of income you don't spend — the single most predictive number in personal finance.
- Sinking Fund
- A sinking fund is money saved a little at a time for a known future expense, so it stops being an emergency.
- Take-Home Pay
- Your pay after tax and deductions — the number to budget from.
- The 50/30/20 Rule
- A starter budget that splits take-home pay 50% needs / 30% wants / 20% saving.
- Unbanked & Underbanked
- Unbanked households have no bank account at all; underbanked households have one but still rely on check cashers, money orders or payday lenders.
- Will
- A will is the legal document stating who inherits your property and who is guardian of your children.
- Windfall
- A windfall is a large one-off sum — inheritance, settlement, bonus, sale of a business, lottery win.
- Zero-Based Budgeting
- Zero-based budgeting assigns every unit of income a job until income minus assignments equals zero.