Fixed-Rate Payment

See: Mortgage.

The payment is set. It doesn't change. That is, if you take out a $200,000, 30-year mortgage at 5%, your monthly payments will remain at a fixed amount of $1,074 as your interest rate of 5% will remain fixed. Everything is fixed, static, non-moving. So it remains the same the entire 30 years until you have paid off the home fully.

The odd thing about fixed-rate payments and this whole structure is that, when you start those grand-plus payments, they probably feel very expensive...but 25 years later, just with very basic 2% a year inflation, they'll probably seem almost crazy easy. And in America, anyway, that's probably a good thing; at that point, you'll have a kid or three to put through college, health bills, and a parent to sock away in the guest house.

Welcome to adulthood. Sorry.