Editorial standards & review policy

RealMoneyIQ publishes calculators and guides about money — taxes, retirement, saving and investing. That is “your money or your life” territory, so we hold this content to a stricter standard than a typical blog. This page explains exactly how a guide gets made, who stands behind it, and how we keep it current. It is the policy our writers work to, not a marketing statement.

Our promises

• Every number is real and cited. Figures come from primary sources, and each guide lists the ones it used. We never invent, estimate for effect, or round a rule to make it read better.
• Nothing to sell. No sponsored products, no “recommended advisor” referral fees, no lead forms. The only thing a guide is optimised for is being correct and useful.
• Your data stays in your browser. Every calculator runs client-side. Nothing you type — salary, balances, age — is sent to or stored on our servers. How that works.
• Educational, not personal advice.We explain the rules and the math; we don't tell you what to do with your specific money. Where a decision turns on your circumstances, we say so and point you to a licensed professional.

How we research and verify

Rules, limits, thresholds and rates are taken from the authority that sets them, and the source URL is cited inline. For US content that means primary sources such as the IRS, Social Security Administration, the Federal Reserve, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Statistics drawn from a provider's own research (for example average retirement-account balances) name the provider and the report, with an “as of” date on every table. If a figure can't be verified against a primary source, we leave it out rather than guess.

Our calculators follow the same rule — see the methodology page for where each rate comes from and the assumptions you can change.

How often we review

We refresh figures whenever the responsible authority publishes a change — annual inflation adjustments, new contribution limits, mid-year rule changes. Every guide carries a visible “last reviewed” date, and at review we re-check any figure older than about 60 days against its original source before moving that date forward. When a rule changes, the guide is corrected, not quietly left stale.

Who writes and reviews

Every guide names an author and shows a “last reviewed” date, and — where a guide has been checked by a subject-matter reviewer — the reviewer too. Today our guides are written by the RealMoneyIQ Editorial Team: the same people who build the calculators and trace every number to its source. We will only ever attach a named individual's byline, or an expert-reviewer credit, to a guide that person has genuinely written or reviewed — we don't manufacture credentials.

Author profile template

Named contributors and expert reviewers get a profile page linked from their byline. Each profile follows the same shape:

• Name — [Full Name]
• Role — [Job title, e.g. Senior Tax Analyst]
• Credential — [Post-nominal credential, e.g. CPA / CFP® / EA — omit if none]
• Summary — [One line: who they are and why they're qualified on this topic.]
• Professional profile — [https://link-to-a-real-professional-profile — omit if none]
• Biography— a short, true account of the person's relevant experience and the topics they cover.

The one profile filled in today is the RealMoneyIQ Editorial Team profile.

Found an error?

If a number looks wrong, tell us and we'll check it against the source and fix it. Email support@realmoneyiq.com. Corrections to published figures are made promptly, and the guide's “last reviewed” date is updated when they are.