G-Z

Income: Money you receive.

Installment Loan: A loan that you repay with several payments, over a period of time. Car loans and mortgages are both types of installment loans.

Interest: The fee for using money, usually a set percentage of the money. In savings accounts, the bank pays the saver interest; in loans, the borrower pays the lender interest.

Investing: Money spent to make more money. Investments in a business are called capital. You can invest in a business by buying stocks. Investing can be risky, so you should make sure you know a lot about anything you invest in.

Loan: Money given to someone with the understanding that it will be paid back, usually with interest.

Minting: Making money by stamping metal, to create coins.

Mortgage: An installment loan made on a house. The house is collateral for the loan, so if you can't repay a mortgage, the lender can repossess your house.

NSF: An abbreviation for "Not Sufficient Funds." A fancy term for a bounced check.

Payee: The person or company you write a check to.

Percentage: A fraction of something, always divided by 100. One percent is 1/100th, ten percent is 10/100ths, and so on.

Period: The amount of time used to figure interest and record activity, usually one month.

Principal: An amount of money before interest is added. For a loan, it is what you owe before finance charges; for a deposit, it is the amount of money before you earn interest.

Profit: The money left over after you pay your bills, or income minus expenses.

Register: The record kept of all transactions.

Repossess: When a lender takes back something, like a car or a house, because the borrower can't repay the debt for it.

Revolving Credit: A kind of loan, like a credit card, that lets you borrow and repay money gradually, instead of all at once.

Simple Interest: Interest that is paid only on principal, and not on the extra interest earned.

Transaction: Any change or activity in your account, such as a deposit or withdrawal.

Transfer: Moving money from one account to another.

Withdrawal: Taking money out of an account.

Variable Costs: Costs a business must pay that change, depending on how many customers the business has.

Yield: The amount of money you earn on an investment, figured as a percentage of the amount you invested.