The most basic words for money are based on the currency of the English speaking country; dollars for the United States, Australia and Canada; pounds for the United Kingdom; and rand for South Africa. Acceptable terms for money in general include "cash," which refers to the money you have on you in bill form and not money in your account, and "change" for coins and small money (such as single bills) that you have on you.
The word "fiver" refers to a five dollar bill in both the U.S. and U.K., along with the word "plastic" which means a credit or debit card. In the U.S., the term "spare change" refers to extra coins that you do not necessarily need; in the U.K., "coppers" means a few small denomination coins. "Bucks" is a common word to refer to dollars in the U.S., and "quid" commonly refers to pounds in the U.K. For example, "You owe me 20 bucks," or "I paid 20 quid." All of these terms are common and socially acceptable in most situations.
Many people use the words "dough" and "loot" to talk about collective money, such as "He is making a lot of dough at his new job" or "The thieves got away with some serious loot." Due to its use in the hip hop music world, the term "benjamins" (which refers to $100 bills) has become commonplace among American youth. These words are informal and should not be used in a professional context. Other idioms for having money include "loaded," "stinking rich" (U.K.), and "filthy rich" (U.S.), all of which mean to be wealthy.
There are many words in the U.K. that are no longer used in everyday English, but you will most likely see them in classic novels and literature. Terms like "shilling," "farthing," "guinea" and "sovereign" are common in the works of famous authors like Oscar Wilde and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
