A lot of money understandably can help at first (4)
I believe the answer is:
much
'a lot' is the definition.
('much' can be a synonym of 'a lot')
'money understandably can help at first' is the wordplay.
'at first' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letters of 'money understandably can help' is 'MUCH'.
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for much that I've seen before include "A large amount" , "A lot of unnecessary fuss" , "Chum (anag.)" , "A great deal" , "Large quantity" .)