Money & Finance — B2 Vocabulary
Key vocabulary to talk about personal money, business finances, and useful expressions for spending, saving, and investing.
🎯 Level: B2 Pre-Advanced
💸 Topic: Money & finance
🧾 Nouns • Adjectives • Verbs
Personal & business finances
core money words| Term | Meaning & example |
|---|---|
| bill / fee |
A bill is a document showing how much you must pay for utilities, services, or goods.
A fee is a fixed charge you pay for a service (e.g. legal, banking, school).
💬 My internet bill was much higher than usual this month.
💬 The lawyer’s fee was higher than I expected.
|
| expenses |
Regular costs for things like food, transport, and bills.
💬 I use cash for most of my daily expenses.
|
| revenue / income |
Revenue is the total money a company receives from sales or services.
Income is the money that remains after costs and taxes, or what a person earns.
💬 The company’s annual revenue reached 20 million dollars.
💬 Their income more than doubled in a year.
|
| funding / grant |
Funding is money given to support a project or activity.
A grant is a special type of funding (often from a government or institution) that you do not have to pay back.
💬 The team received funding to continue their research.
💬 She got a government grant to do her master’s degree.
|
| budget |
The planned amount of money available to spend over a period of time.
💬 Our holiday budget is 800 euros, including flights.
|
| instalment / lump sum |
An instalment is one of several regular payments for something.
A lump sum is a single large payment instead of several smaller ones.
💬 I’m paying for the laptop in 12 monthly instalments.
💬 You get a small discount if you pay the full lump sum.
|
| mortgage / interest rate |
A mortgage is a loan to buy property (a house, flat, etc.).
The interest rate is the percentage the bank charges you for borrowing money.
💬 They took out a mortgage to buy a flat in the city centre.
💬 The interest rate on their loan went up by 2%.
|
| cost of living / standard of living |
The cost of living is the amount of money needed to pay for basic needs in a place.
The standard of living is how comfortable and wealthy people are in general.
💬 The cost of living has risen sharply this year.
💬 People enjoy a high standard of living in that region.
|
| bargain / rip-off |
A bargain is something sold at a much lower price than usual.
A rip-off is something that is far too expensive for what you get.
💬 Ten dollars for leather boots was a real bargain.
💬 Thirty dollars for one pizza is a total rip-off.
|
Adjectives & money labels
describing value & peopleHow to describe the value of things and people’s attitude to money.
worthless – has no real value
good value – good quality for the price
💬 The old laptop is practically worthless now. 💬 This budget phone is surprisingly good value.
frugal – spends money carefully
prodigal – spends money carelessly
💬 She’s become very frugal since she started saving for a flat. 💬 His prodigal lifestyle soon emptied his bank account.
cheap / stingy / tight-fisted – hates spending money
💬 He’s so tight-fisted he never buys a round of drinks.
affluent / well-off – comfortably rich
loaded – extremely rich (informal)
💬 Only well-off families can afford houses in that area. 💬 With three companies and a yacht, he’s absolutely loaded.
broke / skint / penniless – has no money
bankrupt – officially unable to pay debts
💬 By the end of the month I’m usually broke. 💬 The company was declared bankrupt after a year of losses.
in the red – owe money to the bank
💬 After buying the new sofa my account was in the red.
Verbs & verb phrases
actions with money| Phrase | Meaning & example |
|---|---|
| invest (money) in |
Put money into shares, a business, or another project, hoping to earn more later.
💬 I invested some savings in a low-risk fund.
|
| save up / set aside |
Save up – gradually collect money for a future goal.
Set aside – keep part of your money for a specific purpose.
💬 She’s saving up for a new car.
💬 I set aside some cash each month for petrol.
|
| put down a deposit |
Pay an initial amount for something (e.g. a house, course) and pay the rest later.
💬 They put down a deposit on a cottage in Wales.
|
| make a profit / make a loss |
Make a profit – earn more money than you invested.
Make a loss – get back less money than you invested.
💬 We made a profit when we sold the flat.
💬 He made a loss on those shares.
|
| go broke / go bankrupt |
Go broke – lose all your money.
Go bankrupt – be officially declared unable to pay your debts.
💬 At this rate I’ll go broke by the end of the week.
💬 The company went bankrupt after several bad years.
|
| live off |
Depend on someone else’s money to survive.
💬 He’s 35 and still lives off his parents.
|
| break the bank |
Cost so much that it uses almost all your money.
💬 The wedding was beautiful, but it nearly broke the bank.
|
| make a fast buck |
Make money quickly, often in a slightly dishonest or risky way. (informal)
💬 He tried to make a fast buck with a “get-rich-quick” scheme.
|
| haggle |
Negotiate with a seller to get a lower price.
💬 We haggled at the market and paid half the original price.
|
| make ends meet |
Have just enough money to pay for your basic needs.
💬 With rising prices, many families are struggling to make ends meet.
|
💡 Tip: notice how idioms like break the bank, make a fast buck and make ends meet often appear in informal spoken English and news stories about money.
Exercises:
Money & Finance
Choose the correct option to complete each sentence below.
1
When we finished dinner at the restaurant, the waiter brought us the
with the total amount we had to pay.
Correct:
A bill = a written list of what you must pay for goods or services.
2
There’s a €50
to apply for the visa, which you pay for the service, not the product.
Correct:
A fee = money you pay for a professional service or official process.
3
The company will pay your travel
for the conference if you keep all the receipts.
Correct:
Expenses = money that you spend, especially as part of your job.
4
Last year the company’s total
from sales reached $5 million before costs were deducted.
Correct:
Revenue = all the money a business receives from sales.
5
Her monthly
comes from her salary and a small pension.
Correct:
Income = money that a person or household receives regularly.
6
The charity is still looking for
to build a new community centre.
Correct:
Funding = money provided for a particular project or purpose.
7
She received a government
to cover her university tuition fees.
Correct:
A grant = a sum of money given (not lent) for a specific purpose, often by the state.
8
We need to plan our wedding
so that we don’t spend more than we can afford.
Correct:
A budget = a plan of how much money you can spend.
9
We don’t have to pay for the sofa all at once; we can pay in monthly
of €50.
Correct:
An instalment / installment = one of several small regular payments for something.
10
When he retired, he received a
of £50,000 instead of monthly payments.
Correct:
A lump sum = a single large payment of money.
11
They took out a 25-year
to buy their first house.
Correct:
A mortgage = a long-term loan used to buy property.
12
The bank has increased its
so our loan will now cost more each month.
Correct:
The interest rate = the percentage that a bank charges or pays on a loan or savings.
13
The
has risen sharply; food, rent and transport are all more expensive.
Correct:
The cost of living = how expensive it is to pay for basic things like housing and food.
14
Over the last decade, people’s
has improved thanks to higher wages and better services.
Correct:
Your standard of living = the level of comfort and material goods you have.
15
This jacket was a real
– it was reduced from $200 to $50.
Correct:
A bargain = something bought for a much lower price than usual.
16
$12 for a coffee? That’s a complete
if you ask me.
Correct:
A rip-off = something that is far too expensive for what it is.
17
After the company collapsed, the shares became completely
and nobody wanted to buy them.
Correct:
Worthless = having no value or use.
18
The phone isn’t cheap, but for the quality it offers, it’s really
for money.
Correct:
Good value = worth the price you pay because the quality is high.
19
She lives a
life, cooking at home and rarely buying unnecessary things.
Correct:
Frugal = careful about spending money and not wasting it.
20
He inherited a fortune but lived a wildly
lifestyle and soon lost it all.
Correct:
Prodigal = spending money in a very careless and wasteful way.
21
The shoes were very
but they fell apart after a week of use.
Correct:
Cheap = costing little money; often suggests low quality.
22
He’s so
that he never leaves a tip, even when the service is excellent.
Correct:
Stingy = unwilling to spend or give money; mean with money.
23
My uncle is incredibly
– he has plenty of money but hates spending it on anyone else.
Correct:
Tight-fisted = very unwilling to spend money; mean.
24
They live in an
neighbourhood with big houses and expensive cars.
Correct:
An affluent area/person = having a lot of money and a high standard of living.
25
She comes from a
family, so money has never been a big problem for her.
Correct:
Well-off = fairly rich and financially comfortable.
26
Everyone at work knows the new boss is
– he owns three houses and a private jet.
Correct:
In informal English, loaded = very rich.
27
I can’t go out this weekend – I’m completely
until I get paid on Monday.
Correct:
Broke = having no money at the moment (informal).
28
In British English, people often say they’re
when they have no money left at all.
Correct:
In British slang, skint = having no money.
29
After years of gambling, he ended up
and had to move back in with his parents.
Correct:
Penniless = having no money at all, often for a long time.
30
The company went officially
and could no longer pay its debts.
Correct:
Bankrupt = legally unable to pay your debts.
31
After a series of bad investments, the company’s accounts were
and the bank demanded immediate action.
Correct:
If an account is in the red, it has a negative balance; the person or company owes money.
Money & Finance
Match the sentences with the money & finance words
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