In common usage, a surcharge refers to an additional payment or tax heaped upon an existing charge. Surcharges can arise due to a variety of reasons, such as a locality’s need to collect money for extra services. Surcharges can be assessed by governments, corporations and organizations.

Alimony is the court’s way of making sure one spouse doesn’t get to live high on the hog while the other claws to make ends meet after a divorce. A spouse who earns significantly more than the other is ordered to pay a percentage of his income to the one who earns less. Unlike in years past, the paying spouse isn’t always the man.

An emergency fund is an amount of money you set aside to prepare for an unexpected event such as a medical emergency, major home repair, or job loss.

An employee stock purchase plan is a program that permits employees to use some of their paycheck to buy stock in the company for which they work at a discount. Such plans often are presented as an extra benefit and are used for employee recruitment and retention purposes.

An employee stock ownership plan is one of several ways for employees to receive stock shares from their employers. Other methods include stock options, bonuses, direct purchase and profit-sharing plans. As of 2014, about 7,000 U.S. companies sponsored ESOPs, covering 13.5 million employees, making it the nation’s most common type of employee ownership. ESOP’s have a number of benefits worth noting.

An interest rate is the percentage of a loan that the lender charges per year for giving the borrower the privilege of using the money. For example, to take out a car loan, a dealer might charge you 8 percent of the amount you own on the loan as interest. Alternatively, when you put money in a savings account at a bank, the bank might pay you 2.5 percent per year because you’re letting the bank use your money.

Learn about the two main types of IRAs and get the details on eligibility requirements, tax benefits, contribution limits, and how to avoid penalty fees.

Financial security refers to the peace of mind you feel when you aren’t worried about your income being enough to cover your expenses. It also means that you have enough money saved to cover emergencies and your future financial goals. When you are financially secure, your stress levels goes down, leaving you free to focus on other issues.

Inflation refers to how the price for goods and services increases over time. For example, a loaf of bread that would have cost $2 10 years ago might cost $4 today. Even though you can’t nail down exactly what inflation rates will be in the future, understanding how inflation works allows you to plan for your future financial goals.

Money management refers to how you handle all aspects of your finances, from making a budget for where each paycheck goes to setting long-term goals to picking investments that will help you to reach those goals. Money management is not just about saying “no” to any purchase, but developing a plan that allows you to say “yes” to the things that are most important to you. Any amount of money can prove to be too little if you don’t have good money management skills.