What is an account balance?

The amount of money a user has stored in a financial repository.

Account balance with a bank account

When you check your account balance at your bank, it will show the amount of cash you have stored with the bank.

If you have pending transactions, your account balance might be greater than the amount that is actually available to you. That is because the money needed to make those transactions has not yet been removed from your account.

Account balance with a stockbroker

An account balance with a brokerage is likely to look different from a bank account balance. That’s because you don’t just keep cash with a broker.

Instead, the account balance that you see when you check your brokerage account will be the sum of any cash you hold and any stocks you have bought.

Because the value of stocks changes all the time, your account balance will also vary more frequently with stockbroker than a bank.


More terms

Nominal amount

The face value of a gilt. It represents the amount that will be repaid to the holder at maturity and is also used to calculate the dividend or coupon payment.
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Investment Trust

A company that pools money together from multiple investors and then invests it.
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Unit Trusts

A collective investment scheme the investors pay money into in exchange for units. The money is invested in a diversified portfolio of assets.
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Inflation

The increase in the prices of goods and services over time, and the process by which money loses its value.
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Interest Rate

The amount a lender charges for lending your money, or a borrower pays you for borrowing your money.
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Zero coupon bonds

What is a zero coupon bond?
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Costs and Charges

The money you pay when investing.
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Volatility

A measure of how much the prices of an asset or index vary over time.
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Clean price

The quoted price of a gilt, which excludes accrued interest
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