There are a lot of words or phrases that you will see when learning about budgeting, and I have found that most do not fully describe or explain what they mean, this post is to explain some of those phrases. If there are more phrases or questions you have, please add a comment I will add them to this post.

Income – Any money coming into your household. Be it via a job or Child Tax Benefit (CCB) or winnings from gambling on facebook. Any money you receive that goes into your account, or cash you receive.

Expenses – Everything you spend money on, includes Bills, Groceries. Just a fancy way of saying purchases.

Net Income/Pay – The amount on your paycheque after taxes.

Gross Income – The amount you make before taxes.in the above image Current Total is that persons total pay for that period.

Interest – Can be good – a bank account that pays you when you put money into the account like a savings account that pays you when you have money in that account.
Can be bad – a credit card will charge purchase interest if you do not pay off all of your purchases and have the account go back to $0.00 owed by the next bill.

HYSA – High Yield Savings Account, a bank account that has a higher amount of interest paid to your account, the more money you put into it. Gives you more interest than a regular savings account.

RRSP – Registered Retirement Savings Plan – a savings for your retirement, but it is a good plan to have as it can help lower your taxable income when you pay into it. You will pay taxes when you take the money out of this account.

RESP – Registered Education Savings Plan – To save for your children’s education after high school.

TFSA – Tax Free Savings Account, a way to set aside money tax free, and available for withdrawal tax free at any time. Unlike an RRSP you cannot include contributions to your TFSA in you taxes to be deducted.

Tax Deferred – Paying taxes is held off until funds are withdrawn. Usually in regards to RRSPs or accounts similar to an RRSP.

Bi-weekly – Every two weeks.

50/30/20 – A budgeting method. 50% of your income would be set for bills. 30% would be set for Wants. %20 would be set for savings. However in this economy, this seems slightly outdated to me, especially when so many folks have their rent alone take up more than 50% of their income.

Emergency Fund – Money specifically set aside to cover emergencies, like a blown tire or dental emergency.

This is a small list, but I will update and add if you have questions or comments. Please let me know if you need more things explained to you.