Category 1
A legal process in which a court takes over some of the finances of a person who is unable to pay his or her bills.
Bankruptcy
A financial product that when purchased, provides reimbursement pay to a person in the event of certain types of financial loss.
Insurance
Money collected by a government from its citizens for the purpose of operating the government.
Tax
A sustained increase in the general level of prices.
Inflation
The potential for loss
Risk
The system in which individuals, businesses, governments, and the world as a whole interact.
Economy
A severe recession.
Depression
Those expenses that remain the same from period to period.
Fixed expense
A period in which the economy is shrinking.
Recession
The study of human populations.
Demographics
Health conditions that existed before one's insurance policy was granted.
Pre-existing conditions
The difference between what workers earn and what they get to keep and use.
Take-home pay
Provides health care coverage to mostly older Americans and some younger disabled people.
Medicare
the fact that older people in the U.S. are increasing in number at a faster rate than that of other age groups.
Graying of America
The cost of pursuing one option instead of another, expressed as the value of the activity you gave up.
Opportunity cost
What we owe, or our debt.
Liability
Things you own that can be converted into cash rapidly and without a risk of significant loss.
Liquid Assets
A projection about what will happen in the future.
Forecast
Allows consumers to borrow up to some preset maximum amount. An example would be a credit card.
Revolving open-end credit
Provides coverage for as long as the policyholder continues to pay the premium.
Whole-life insurance
Regular payments paid to an insurance company in return for insurance coverage.
Premium
A financial statement that describes your financial position at a specific point in time.
Personal balance sheet
Debts that will take longer than 1 year to pay off.
Long-term liabilities