Last updated: August 2026
This page sets out how content on Smart Budget Guides is researched, written, sourced, and corrected. It exists so you can judge the work rather than take it on trust.
Who Writes This Site
Every article is written by Xavi, the founder and sole author of Smart Budget Guides. There is no writing team, no contributor network, and no sponsored guest posts. The background behind the site — growing up without any financial education, and digging out of debt as an adult — is set out on the About page.
I am not a licensed financial professional, and I say so plainly in the Disclaimer. The perspective this site offers is that of someone who learned personal finance as an adult, from the beginning, and remembers what was confusing.
How Articles Are Researched
Every factual claim that can be traced to a primary source is checked against one before publication. In practice that means:
- Tax rules, contribution limits, and deduction thresholds are verified against the relevant IRS publication or notice, not against other blogs.
- Cost-of-living and spending figures come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey or comparable official data.
- Consumer credit and debt rules are checked against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
- Benefit and retirement figures come from the Social Security Administration or the agency that administers the programme.
- Product terms — fees, minimums, rates — are taken from the provider’s own current documentation.
Where a figure has a source, the article links to it directly. Where a claim is personal experience rather than data, it is written in the first person so the difference is obvious.
What This Site Will Not Do
- Recommend a specific security, fund, or stock to buy.
- Promise a rate of return, or imply that any outcome is guaranteed.
- Publish content written by a third party in exchange for payment or a link.
- Accept payment to change the substance of a review or recommendation.
- Present an affiliate relationship as an independent verdict without disclosing it.
Dated Figures and Updates
Financial figures go stale. Contribution limits change annually, tax brackets are indexed to inflation, and interest rates move continuously.
Any article containing year-specific figures states the year in the text. Articles covering rules that change annually are reviewed when the governing agency publishes new numbers, and the publication or modification date shown on each article reflects when it was last touched.
If you find a figure that has been overtaken by a newer official number, that is a correction — please report it.
Corrections Policy
Mistakes get fixed, not quietly deleted.
- Factual errors — a wrong number, a misstated rule, a broken calculation — are corrected as soon as they are confirmed against the primary source.
- Substantive corrections that change the meaning or advice of an article are noted in the article itself, with the date.
- Minor fixes — typos, broken links, clarified wording — are made without a note.
- Outdated figures are updated to the current official value, and the year label is updated with them.
To report an error, use the contact page. Point to the article and the specific claim, and include the source you believe is correct if you have one.
Advertising and Affiliate Relationships
This site carries display advertising and uses affiliate links. Advertisers have no input into editorial content, no advance sight of articles, and no ability to have content changed or removed.
Affiliate relationships are disclosed on the Affiliate Disclosure page and are never allowed to determine whether a product is described favourably.
Reader Feedback
If an article is unclear, incomplete, or assumes knowledge you do not have, that is useful information and I want it. Much of what gets rewritten on this site gets rewritten because a reader said the explanation did not land.