(Home Ownership)
This document outlines your final mortgage terms and closing costs, and must be provided at least 3 days before closing on a home.
What is a Closing Disclosure?
This budget rule divides your income into 50% for needs, 30% for wants, and 20% for savings and debt repayment.
What is the 50/30/20 rule?
What do you call a share of ownership in a company?
What is a stock?
This acronym stands for the annual rate of interest you pay on outstanding credit card balances.
What is APR (Annual Percentage Rate)?
This popular rule suggests waiting how long before making non-essential purchases to avoid regret.
What is the 24-hour rule?/ What is 24 hours
This is a tax-advantaged account used by some states to help first-time homebuyers save for a down payment, sometimes offering deductions or credits.
What is a first-time homebuyer savings account?
This is the amount of money left after subtracting your expenses from your income.
What is net income (or disposable income)?
This is the term for a payment companies make to shareholders from their profits.
What is a dividend?
Making only the minimum payment on your credit card balance usually results in this.
What is paying more interest over time (or taking longer to pay off the debt)?
This money move involves checking your subscriptions and recurring payments to eliminate things you don’t use.
What is a spending audit?
This itemized tax deduction allows homeowners to deduct the interest paid on this type of loan.
What is a mortgage?
This method categorizes expenses into fixed, variable, and periodic to better predict cash flow.
What is envelope budgeting?
Similar to an index fund, this investment tracks a market index, but it can be traded throughout the day like a stock, often has no minimum investment, and is generally more tax-efficient.
What is an ETF?
Disputing incorrect information on this document is one of the first steps in credit repair.
What is your credit report?
This term refers to the tendency to increase spending as your income increases, instead of saving or investing the difference.
What is lifestyle inflation?
This term refers to the annual amount you pay in property taxes divided by your home's assessed value, used to compare tax rates between locations.
What is the mill rate (or property tax rate)?
This is the recommended maximum percentage of your income to allocate for transportation expenses, including car payments, gas, and public transit.
What is 15%?
These are the three main types of investments most beginners use to get started in the stock market.
What are individual stocks, exchange traded Funds (ETFs), and mutual funds (index funds)?
Financial experts recommend using no more than this percentage of your available credit, called credit utilization, to maintain a healthy credit score.
What is 30% credit utilization?
This is the financial term for buying something that decreases in value over time, like a car or clothes.
What is a depreciating asset?
This IRS rule allows single homeowners to exclude up to $250,000 in profit ($500,000 for married couples) from the sale of a primary residence, if certain ownership and use conditions are met.
What is the capital gains tax exclusion?
This saving strategy involves setting aside a fixed amount of money regularly, often automatically, to build wealth or prepare for future expenses.
What is automated saving (or pay yourself first)?
What are index funds and why do many financial experts recommend investing in them?
Index funds are a type of mutual fund. They provide broad diversification by tracking a market index, have lower fees compared to actively managed funds, offer consistent long-term returns aligned with the market, and require less time and expertise to manage.
What are the five main factors that influence your credit score?
What are payment history, amounts owed (credit utilization), length of credit history, new credit (inquiries), and types of credit used?
Name three smart money habits that can help you save more and spend less over time.
What are: tracking your spending, using a budget, paying yourself first, setting financial goals, avoiding impulse buys, or automating savings? (Any 3)