Glossary
Plain-English definitions, alphabetically.
How to use this glossary
Every term here is written for someone who's just hit it in a payslip, mortgage offer, or HMRC letter and needs the answer in under 60 seconds. Each entry includes a plain-English definition, why it matters in practice, and — where it's useful — a worked numerical example using realistic UK figures. Where a calculator exists for that concept, the entry links straight to it.
Most-looked-up terms
By traffic, the most-consulted entries on this site are marginal tax rate, personal allowance, SDLT, APR, and AER. If you only have time for five, those five cover most everyday UK money decisions.
What's not here
This glossary is deliberately tight: only terms we've found people actually search for, in the contexts they actually search for them. We don't pad it with archaic legal jargon or US-only financial vocabulary. If a term is missing and you think it shouldn't be, it's worth flagging — the index is updated roughly monthly.
All terms
- APR (Annual Percentage Rate)
- AER (Annual Equivalent Rate)
- SDLT (Stamp Duty Land Tax)
- LTV (Loan-to-Value)
- ISA (Individual Savings Account)
- SIPP (Self-Invested Personal Pension)
- VAT (Value Added Tax)
- National Insurance (NI)
- Personal Allowance
- Marginal Tax Rate
- Compound Interest
- Capital Gains Tax (CGT)
- Dividend
- Corporation Tax
- Emergency Fund
- Sinking Fund
- Debt Avalanche Method
- Debt Snowball Method
- Balance Transfer
- Salary Sacrifice
- Offset Mortgage
- Pound Cost Averaging
- First-Time Buyer (FTB)
- Help to Buy ISA (closed)
- Lifetime ISA (LISA)
- Premium Bonds
- Gilt (UK Government Bond)
- CPI Inflation
- Real vs Nominal Return
- Expense Ratio (OCF/TER)
- Tracker Fund (Index Fund)
- BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate)
- TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure)
- DIP / AIP (Mortgage Agreement in Principle)
- SVR (Standard Variable Rate)
- Early Repayment Charge (ERC)
- Council Tax
- Ground Rent
- Leasehold vs Freehold
- Section 21 Notice