Published before we earned a dollar
How we make money.
Most publishers write this page after a controversy. We’re writing it before the company has meaningful revenue, because the order matters: the rules should exist before the temptations do. This page is permanent, dated, and updated in public.
What we accept
YouTube advertising.
YouTube places ads around our episodes programmatically. We don’t choose those advertisers, and we block the categories YouTube lets us block. Where we control every word — this site, our newsletter — the standards below apply in full.
Sponsorships that pass a published standard.
Flat-fee products a careful retiree could buy at a listed price without a salesperson. One labeled 35-second module per episode, never adjacent to a verdict. The full rules, including the categories we refuse forever, are public: the sponsor standard.
Affiliate links, disclosed in-line.
Only for tools we actually use on screen in episodes. The percentage is disclosed at the link. Never inside a verdict.
Reader-supported tools and workbooks.
Self-directed educational products with visible prices and a 30-day refund. No fear pricing.
Vetted referrals, eventually.
If we ever connect readers with financial professionals, it will be: fee-only fiduciaries, compensation disclosed in dollars, the same fee no matter which professional you choose, and never inside an episode. If we can’t meet that bar, we won’t do it.
What we refuse
Annuities marketed to seniors. Precious-metal IRAs. Reverse mortgages. Trading services and signal groups. Crypto platforms. Anything sold on commission through an agent. We refuse these categories permanently, at any price, and we will publish the dollar total of sponsorships we declined each quarter.
We also never: sell or rent the email list, accept payment to change a verdict, or give personalized advice.
The standing promises
The corrections log.
Public and permanent. Errors are corrected in the log first, then in the content.
The error bounty.
$50 to the first person who reports any verified factual error. It keeps us honest and it’s the cheapest quality control we know.
Receipts with every case.
Source ledger, assumptions, and outputs ship with each episode.
This page.
Updated whenever a revenue stream is added, with the date of the change.