Finance Study Guides

24 in-depth guides covering the essential vocabulary of investing, personal finance, and economics — written for beginners, with real US examples and no jargon.

Investing
Investing

What Is a Stock?

Ownership stakes, market cap, P/E ratios, bull and bear markets, and how to start investing in equities.

Investing

What Is a Dividend?

How dividends work, yield, payout ratios, ex-dividend dates, DRIPs, and dividend aristocrats.

Investing

What Is Compound Interest?

The Rule of 72, how compounding frequency affects growth, and why starting early matters so much.

Investing

What Is an ETF?

How ETFs work, expense ratios, types of ETFs, and how to buy your first exchange-traded fund.

Investing

What Is a Mutual Fund?

Active vs passive funds, load fees, expense ratios, and how mutual funds compare to ETFs.

Investing

What Is a Bond?

Coupons, yields, duration, Treasury vs corporate bonds, and why bond prices move opposite to rates.

Investing

What Is Investing?

Stocks, bonds, equity, return, risk, portfolio, index, margin, and broker — the essentials before your first trade.

Investing

What Is Cryptocurrency?

Bitcoin, blockchain, wallets, mining, DeFi, stablecoins, halving — a clear beginner's guide to crypto with real US examples.

Personal Finance
Personal Finance

What Is a Credit Score?

How FICO scores work, the 5 factors that affect your score, and proven strategies to improve it.

Personal Finance

What Is a Budget?

The 50/30/20 rule, zero-based budgeting, fixed vs variable expenses, and the best free tools.

Personal Finance

What Is a 401k?

Contribution limits, employer matching, vesting schedules, and traditional vs Roth 401k.

Personal Finance

What Is Debt?

APR, debt avalanche vs snowball methods, consolidation strategies, and how to become debt-free.

Personal Finance

What Is Insurance?

Premiums, deductibles, copays, types of coverage every American needs, and how to lower costs.

Personal Finance

What Is an Emergency Fund?

How much to save, where to keep it, how to build it fast, and when it is appropriate to use it.

Personal Finance

What Is a Tax Deduction?

Brackets, withholding, refunds, credits, exemptions, and how to legally reduce your tax bill.

Personal Finance

What Is a Mortgage?

Principal, amortization, escrow, equity, refinancing, underwriting, and how to navigate the home loan process.

Economics
Economics

What Is Inflation?

What causes inflation, how the Fed fights it with interest rates, and how to protect your money.

Economics

What Is GDP?

How GDP is calculated, nominal vs real GDP, growth rates, and how it affects your finances.

Economics

What Is Supply and Demand?

Market equilibrium, price ceilings and floors, elasticity, and real examples from the US economy.

Economics

What Is a Recession?

Contractions, unemployment, bailouts, austerity, depression — causes and how to protect your finances.

Economics

What Is the Federal Reserve?

Monetary policy, benchmark rates, quantitative easing, tapering, and stagflation explained.

Economics

What Is an Interest Rate?

Federal funds rate, mortgage rates, prime rate, bond yields, and how the Fed controls the price of money.

Economics

What Is the Labor Market?

Wages, employment, unions, minimum wage, workforce, and how the job market shapes the broader economy.

Economics

What Is Unemployment?

Frictional, structural, and cyclical unemployment — how it's measured, how benefits work, and how to protect your finances.