Economic Herald is a publisher of business forecasts and personal finance advice.

MISSION STATEMENT

Economic Herald helps readers make smart financial decisions at all stages of life. We are the pioneer of personal finance journalism and have earned our readers’ loyalty with authoritative, unbiased advice that has helped make them the most affluent audience in the category. Our readers are intelligent and action-oriented, and they tend to trust our advertisers as much as they trust our advice.

That means dealing honestly, openly, and compassionately with all our key stakeholders — employees, subscribers, vendors, and our community. In addition to being the right way to act, this adherence to high ethical standards, we believe, has been very important to our company’s success.

We exist through the patronage and trust of our users. We serve them with information and judgment that is accurate, timely, relevant to their needs, and fairly priced.

We treat every subject with balance and fairness, giving both sides of the issue and doing our best to check stories for accuracy. We are never “out to get” anyone, promote a cause, or boost anyone’s commercial or political interests. We simply seek to give our readers useful, factual information, coupled with our own best judgment.

Economic Herald assigns pieces to in-house writers or outside contributors who have expertise, experience, and subject matter knowledge relating to the assignment and who understand the Economic Herald policy of fact-checking and ensuring accuracy. Every piece published by Economic Herald is reviewed by at least one editor before publication.

At times, Economic Herald will publish content from outside contributors who are not a part of the Economic Herald editorial team as we believe there is benefit in providing different voices and points of view. Content provided by those who are not part of the Economic Herald editorial staff or engaged as a Economic Herald writer is clearly identified.

We have a long tradition of reader service. We take readers’ suggestions and complaints seriously, responding quickly and courteously to their inquiries. In short, we treat our customers the way we would like to be treated ourselves.

CORRECTIONS POLICY

We will do nothing that would cause our readers to question the independence, objectivity, and fairness of our editorial judgment. We strive for accuracy and transparency as a way to build and maintain trust with our readers. We correct errors that mislead readers or misstate facts or that could have an impact on our readers’ financial decision-making and actions.

ADVERTISING AND COMMERCIAL POLICY

We always aim to provide unbiased editorial created by our journalists and writers. We also need to pay our teams and website costs so we make money in a number of ways. We sometimes use affiliate links to products and services on retailer sites, for which we can receive compensation if you click on those links or make purchases through them. From time to time, we also publish advertorials (paid-for editorial content) and sponsored content on the site. When this is the case, the content is clearly marked as sponsored or promoted, so you’ll always know which content is editorial and which is not.

Occasionally, an advertiser will partner with editorial on a poll or other data-intensive project, and such sponsorship will be clearly labeled.

JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY

We disclose to our immediate editors any potential conflict of interest (investment, family relationship, etc.) that could preclude a reporter from covering a topic with objectivity.

We do not accept any fee — paid either to the individual employee or to Economic Herald — for public speaking and personal appearances, lest receiving money from a commercial interest might favorably incline us toward their products or point of view, or simply give the appearance of such inclination.

AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE

 We independently review products, services, or locations, relying on the expertise of our writers and contributors, or results of surveys of readers or others. Where we link to products or services on this website, we may earn affiliate commissions from those buying links. The content of these reviews has not been reviewed or endorsed by any of the entities we recommend. 

INVESTMENT POLICY

We believe that Economic Herald’s readers benefit from the expertise of our staff writers, editors, and columnists, and that Economic Herald advice is better informed if the staff itself participates in the actions it advises. (We “eat our own cooking,” as it were.) Accordingly, Economic Herald employees, freelancers, contractors, and columnists are allowed to own securities of entities about which they have written, commented, or reported recently, provided the editorial activity would not likely have an impact on the securities or their price.

All Economic Herald employees are expected to conduct themselves at all times in a manner that leaves no grounds for belief, or even suspicion, that an employee, an employee’s family, or anyone else connected to an employee made financial gains by acting pursuant to “inside” information obtained through the course of the employee’s work. Furthermore, no employee may profit from news, data, or information learned in the course of employment that has yet to be made public. We will not publish any story critical of any investment in which the author has a short position.

METHODOLOGY DISCLOSURE

How We Choose and Rank

Economic Herald has had a successful history of independently considering and reviewing a wide variety of products, services, businesses, and locations, among other subjects. Economic Herald readers have been able to trust the expertise and judgment used by Economic Herald in making its selections. Economic Herald uses different methodologies to evaluate subjects based on the product and type of evaluation. These include:

• Evaluation by an expert. At times Economic Herald uses staff experts and knowledgeable contributors to evaluate products, businesses, places, and services. These Economic Herald experts base their assessments on personal research and evaluation, as well as any special criteria established for that particular ranking.
• Scoring based on quantitative or qualitative criteria. Some Economic Herald rankings and ratings are based upon evaluations that use quantitative or qualitative scoring systems.
• Surveys. Economic Herald recommends some products, services, businesses, or other subjects based upon surveys. At times, these surveys are the result of contributed appraisals from readers. At other times, Economic Herald uses reputable third-party survey providers or in-house survey expertise in crafting and executing surveys. When surveys are used, Economic Herald ensures the surveys are independent and follow best practices methodologies.