Glossary

Household finance glossary

Plain-language definitions for common household and market terms.

Fixed cost

A recurring expense that stays relatively stable over a defined period.

Variable cost

An expense that changes with usage, prices, behaviour or timing.

Purchasing power

The amount of goods and services a unit of money can buy.

Policy rate

A benchmark interest rate used by a central bank in monetary policy.

Liquidity

How readily an asset or amount of money can be accessed or converted to cash.

Concentration

The degree to which exposure depends on a narrow group of assets, sectors or factors.

Drawdown

A decline from a previous peak value.