The maturity of an asset essentially means how long you intend to hold it. The term is most often used to describe bonds. For example, if someone said their US Treasury bond had a 10 year maturity, it means that in 10 years time, they recieve both their principal deposit and their last coupon payment.

Compound interest refers to when interest gets added to the principal investment, and then the interest rate applies to the total principal (principal investment + interest payments). For example, say you invest $100 with an interest rate of 10% compounded annually for 10 years. After the first year, you would have $110 (10% of $100 is $10). After the second year, you would have $121 (10% of $110 is $11). Finally, after 10 years, you would have $259.37.

The rate of return determines what percentage of the money you invested or saved in a bank account you get back on your investment. A high rate of return means that for every dollar you invested, you are going to get more back in interest payments than with a low rate of return. But be mindful - assets with high rates of return generally also have high risk.

Inflation is essentially a decline of purchasing power over time. Inflation occurs when prices rise. For example, in 1970 a cup of coffee costed 25 cents. In 2000 a cup of coffee costed 1 dollar, and in 2022, a cup of coffee costs 1.85 dollars. This is an example of how inflation affects prices; the 25 cents that used to buy a cup of coffee now only buys about 1/7th of a cup of coffee. In it's essence, inflation means you need more dollars to buy any one thing.