| A | B |
|---|
| Allowance | A sum of money paid regularly to a person, often by a parent to a child; sometimes paid in compensation for services rendered. |
| Annual Percentage Rate (APR) | The percentage of the principal of a loan to be paid as interest in one year. |
| Asset | Something of monetary value owned by an individual or an organization. |
| Balance Sheet | An itemized statement listing the total assets and total liabilities of a given business to portray its net worth at a given moment in time. |
| Balanced Budget | A financial plan in which income is equal to expenses. |
| Bank | A financial institution that provides various products and services to its customers, including checking and savings accounts, loans and currency exchange. |
| Barter | Trading a good or service directly for another good or service, without using money or credit. |
| Borrow | To receive and use something belonging to somebody else, with the intention of returning or repaying it--often with interest in the case of borrowed money. |
| Business | Any activity or organization that produces or exchanges goods or services for a profit. |
| Capital | Resources and goods made and used to produce other goods and services. Examples include buildings, machinery, tools and equipment. |
| Cash | Money in the form of paper currency or coins |
| Check | A written order to a financial institution directing the financial institution to pay a stated amount of money, as instructed, from the customer's account. |
| Choice | Decision made or course of action taken when faced with a set of alternatives. |
| Collateral | Something of value (often a house or a car) pledged by a borrower as security for a loan. If the borrower fails to make payments on the loan, the collateral may be sold; proceeds from the sale may then be used to pay down the unpaid debt. |
| Competition | Attempts by two or more individuals or organizations to acquire the same goods, services, or productive and financial resources. |
| Consume | To buy and use a good or service. |
| Costs | An amount that must be paid or spent to buy or obtain something. |
| Credit | The opportunity to borrow money or to receive goods or services in return for a promise to pay later. |
| Credit History | A record of past borrowing and repayments. |
| Debt | Money owed to someone else. Also the state or condition of owing money. |
| Demand | The quantity of a good or service that buyers are willing and able to buy at all possible prices during a period of time. |
| Deposit | Money put into a financial account. Also, to place money in a financial account. |
| Depreciation | A reduction in the value of capital goods over time due to their use in production. |
| Economics | The study of how people, firms and societies choose to allocate scarce resources with alternative uses. |
| Entrepreneur | One who draws upon his or her skills and initiative to launch a new business venture with the aim of making a profit. |
| Equity | the value of mortgaged property after accounting for charges against it or money owed. |
| Expenses | Payments for goods and services. |
| Federal Reserve | The central bank of the United States. Its main function is controlling the money supply through monetary policy. |
| Fraud | Wrongful or criminal deception intended to manipulate a person for the purpose of gain, usually financial. |
| Goal | Something a person or organization plans to achieve in the future; an aim or desired result. |
| Gross Domestic Product (GDP) | The market value of all final goods and services produced in a country in a calendar year. |
| Gross Income | A total amount of money earned (from salaries, wages, etc.) before taxes and other deductions are withheld. |
| Imports | Goods and services bought from sellers in another nation. |
| Income | Payments earned by households for selling or renting their productive resources. |
| Income Tax | Payments made by individuals and corporations to the federal government (and to some state and local governments) based on income received (both earned and unearned). |
| Innovation | A new idea or method. |
| Interest Rate | The price paid for using someone else's money, expressed as a percentage of the amount borrowed. |
| Internal Revenue Service (IRS) | The government agency that collects federal income taxes. |
| Inventory | An itemized list of goods held by a person or business. |
| Labor | The quantity and quality of human effort available to produce goods and services. |
| Law of Demand | As the price of a good or service rises (or falls), the quantity of that good or service that people are willing and able to buy during a certain period of time falls (or rises). |
| Law of Supply | As the price of a good or service that producers are willing and able to offer for sale during a certain period of time period rises (or falls), the quantity of that good or service supplied rises (or falls). |
| Nonprofit Organization | An organization that is exempt from federal (and sometimes state) taxes; receives income from donors, subsidized beneficiaries and, indirectly, taxpayers; and therefore should provide its goods or services free or below cost. |
| Partnership | A business with two or more owners who share the firm's profits and losses. |
| Price Ceiling | A legally established maximum price that may be charged for a good or service. |
| Price Floor | A legally established minimum price that may be charged for a good or service. |
| Profit | Income received for entrepreneurial skills and risk taking, calculated by subtracting all of a firm's explicit and implicit costs from its total revenues. |
| Resume | A document describing a job-seeker to prospective employers. |
| Standard of Living | The level of subsistence of a nation, social class or individual with reference to the adequacy of necessities and comforts of daily life. |
| Surplus | The situation that results when the quantity supplied of a product exceeds the quantity demanded. |
| Tariff | A tax on an imported good or service. |
| Unemployment | The number of people without jobs who are actively seeking work. |
| Wage | Payments for labor services that are directly tied to time worked, or to the number of units of output produced. |
