Banking Basics
A plan for how to spend and save money.
What is a budget?
This copper-colored coin is the only one in current U.S. circulation that features a person facing to the right.
What is the penny?
A plan for how to spend and save money.
What is a budget?
This is the most influential factor in your FICO score, making up roughly 35% of the total.
What is payment history?
This term refers to a "slice" or "tiny piece" of ownership in a single company.
What is a stock (or share)?
Examples include rent, insurance, and car payments.
What are fixed expenses?
To prevent "clipping" (shaving off precious metal), these two common U.S. silver-colored coins have "reeded edges" or ridges.
What are the dime and quarter?
The amount of money earned, before deductions.
What is Gross Pay?
Beginning in late 2025, new FICO scoring models will start incorporating data from these "short-term" installment loans often found at online checkouts.
What is Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL)?
Instead of picking one company, beginners often buy this "basket" of many different stocks or bonds to lower their risk.
What is a Mutual Fund or ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund)?
Money earned from working or from things that make money.
What is income?
In 1945, the Federal Reserve discontinued this denomination of paper bill for public use.
What is the $10,000 bill?
Take-home pay, or what is left after deductions are taken out of your paycheck
What is Net Pay?
This four-letter term describes the failure to repay a debt according to the agreed-upon terms.
What is default?
This math-based "Rule" helps you estimate how many years it will take to double your money at a fixed interest rate.
What is the Rule of 72?
A low-risk, interest-earning savings account offered by banks or credit unions, typically paying higher rates than standard savings for locking away a lump sum for a fixed term (e.g., 6 months to 5 years).
What is a CD
This is the only U.S. paper bill currently in circulation that does not feature a U.S. President.
What is the $10 bill (Alexander Hamilton) or $100 bill (Benjamin Franklin)?
A budgeting rule that suggests 50% for needs, 30% for wants, and 20% for savings.
What is the 50/30/20 Rule?
As of late 2025, total American credit card balances hit a record high, surpassing this "trillion-dollar" milestone.
What is $1.2 trillion? (Exact: $1.277 trillion)
This "superpower" of investing is when the interest you earn begins to earn interest on itself.
What is compound interest?
Income received by an individual who is paid by the hour.
What is an hourly wage?
This 15th-century English coin, first minted by Henry VII, shares its name with a modern British gold coin.
What is a Sovereign?
Another name for a budget, often focusing on money in vs. money out.
What is a Cash Flow Plan?
This debt management strategy involves taking out one large loan to pay off several smaller, high-interest debts.
What is debt consolidation?
This is the practice of spreading your money across many different types of investments to avoid "putting all your eggs in one basket."
What is diversification?