Inflation: the rate at which prices rise over time, eroding the purchasing power of money — the reason ₹100 today won’t buy the same basket of goods in 10 years.
Compounding: earning returns not just on your original investment but on the returns it has already generated — the core reason starting early matters more than investing large amounts later.
Diversification: spreading money across different assets so a decline in one doesn’t sink your whole portfolio.
Liquidity: how quickly an asset can be converted to cash without a significant loss in value — a savings account is highly liquid, real estate is not.
Net Worth: total assets minus total liabilities — a single number that summarizes your overall financial position at a point in time.
Credit Score: a number (typically 300–900 in India) reflecting your creditworthiness, based on repayment history, credit usage, and loan mix — it directly affects the interest rates you’re offered.
Asset Allocation: how your money is split across asset classes like equity, debt, and gold — usually the single biggest driver of long-term portfolio returns, more than which specific fund or stock you pick.
Expense Ratio: the annual fee a mutual fund charges to manage your money, expressed as a percentage of your investment — a small-looking difference here compounds significantly over decades.
Rupee-Cost Averaging: automatically buying more units when prices are low and fewer when prices are high, by investing a fixed amount at regular intervals — the mechanism behind how SIPs smooth out market volatility.
Rule of 72: a quick way to estimate how many years it takes for money to double, by dividing 72 by the annual rate of return.
Rule of 72: Years to Double ≈ 72 ÷ Annual Return %Example.At a 12% annual return, money roughly doubles in 72 ÷ 12 = 6 years — a fast mental check without needing a calculator.