Money words, in plain English

Money has a lot of words that sound more complicated than they are. This is a plain-English list of the ones Calm Wealth Journal uses, grouped the same way the app’s Knowledge section is. No jargon, no advice - just what each term means and why it helps you see your money clearly.

Core concepts

Net Worth

Everything you own minus everything you owe. Add up your bank accounts, cash, investments and other assets, then subtract any debts. The number left is your Net Worth. For example: 20,000 across your accounts minus a 5,000 car loan is a Net Worth of 15,000. It’s the single best snapshot of where you stand.

Assets

Anything of value that you own - bank balances, cash, stocks, funds, property. Assets are the “everything you own” side of Net Worth.

Liabilities

The other side: money you owe. Loans, mortgages, credit-card balances. The app keeps liabilities separate and subtracts them from your assets, so the Net Worth you see is the honest figure. Paying a debt down improves your position just as much as saving more does.

Income

Money coming in - from work, a business, investments, anywhere. It’s what covers your expenses and feeds your savings.

Expenses

Money going out - everything you spend on, from rent to coffee. Knowing roughly what you spend each month is what makes your Financial Runway possible to work out.

Financial Runway

How many months your liquid assets (cash and bank accounts) would cover your living expenses if your income stopped. For example: 12,000 in cash against 2,000 of monthly expenses is a six-month runway. It’s your peace-of-mind number, and many people aim for six months or more.

Saving and investing

Saving

Setting money aside for later, usually somewhere safe and easy to reach. Savings are your cushion for emergencies and short-term plans.

Investment

Putting money into something that may grow over time, like stocks or funds. It carries more risk than saving, with the trade-off of potentially higher returns. What to invest in is well outside what this app - or this post - will tell you.

Stock

A share of ownership in a company. Hold one and you own a small slice of that business, for better or worse.

Fund

A single investment that pools money from many people to buy a mix of stocks, bonds or other holdings - instant diversification, managed for you. A mutual fund is the common example.

Smart spending

Good and bad expenses

A loose way the app frames spending, nothing more. A “good” expense buys something that genuinely adds to your life or your future; a “bad” one is the impulse buy or the forgotten subscription you’d cancel the moment you noticed it. No judgement - just a lens to spot the difference.

That’s the vocabulary. None of it needs a finance degree, and the whole point of tracking is to make these words concrete in your own numbers.

Viktor