APR, the annual percentage rate, is the yearly cost of borrowing expressed as a percentage of the balance, including interest and, on most loans, the required fees, so that two offers can be compared on one number.

Cash flow is the money that came in over a period minus the money that went out, with transfers between your own accounts left out; a positive figure is money you kept and a negative one is money you borrowed or drew from savings.

The debt snowball is a payoff method that pays the minimum on every debt and sends all extra money to the smallest balance first, then rolls that debt's payment onto the next smallest, so the debts disappear one at a time from smallest to largest.

An emergency fund is cash kept in a separate savings account to cover essential expenses when income stops or a large unplanned cost lands, usually sized at three to six months of essentials and built one month at a time.

Net worth is everything you own minus everything you owe, measured at today's values, and the direction it moves over time says whether your finances are getting stronger.

A sinking fund is money set aside a little every month for an expense you know is coming, sized by dividing the expense by the months until it is due, so the bill is paid from the fund instead of from the month it lands in.

Money terms, defined.

Budgeting

Spending & cash flow

Saving

Debt & credit

Net worth