Glossary
Money & numbers glossary
Short, precise definitions for the terms used across our calculators and guides.
- APR
- Annual percentage rate: the yearly cost of borrowing, which may include certain fees.
- Amortization
- Paying off a loan through scheduled payments that cover interest first, then principal.
- Break-even point
- Sales volume where revenue equals total costs.
- CAC
- Customer acquisition cost: sales and marketing spend ÷ new customers.
- CAGR
- Compound annual growth rate: the steady yearly rate that turns a start value into an end value.
- Churn
- The share of customers lost in a period.
- Contribution margin
- Price minus variable cost per unit; what each sale contributes to fixed costs.
- CPM
- Cost per thousand ad impressions, paid by advertisers.
- CTR
- Click-through rate: clicks ÷ impressions.
- DTI
- Debt-to-income ratio: monthly debt payments ÷ gross monthly income.
- EMI
- Equated monthly instalment: a fixed loan payment covering interest and principal.
- Gross margin
- (Revenue − direct costs) ÷ revenue.
- Inflation
- The rate at which prices rise and purchasing power falls.
- LTV
- Customer lifetime value: gross profit expected from a customer over the relationship.
- Markup
- Profit ÷ cost.
- Net burn
- Monthly expenses minus revenue — the cash a company loses each month.
- Page RPM
- Ad revenue per 1,000 pageviews.
- Principal
- The original amount borrowed or invested.
- ROI
- Return on investment: (gain − cost) ÷ cost.
- Rule of 72
- 72 ÷ annual rate ≈ years to double money.
- Runway
- Months until cash runs out at the current burn.
- Token
- A unit of text processed by an AI model; roughly ¾ of an English word on average.
- Digital root
- The single digit obtained by repeatedly summing a number's digits.