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Simply put, if we wouldn’t recommend an offer to a close family member, we won’t recommend it on The Ascent. Strict editorial integrity is our North Star. It's why we only stand behind the best products, based on our editorial opinions and ratings.
There are three parts to our editorial integrity: our mission, editorial transparency, and commitment to our community.
The Ascent, a Motley Fool service, exists to make the world smarter, happier, and richer.
Being transparent with our community is one of our most important values. There are two reasons for that:
True editorial integrity is hard to come by
The Ascent will always be honest with our community. We go beyond words and take action to set us apart from other financial sites that commonly recommend only products from their advertising partners. Our Best Of lists include products from both our advertising partners and companies we have no relationship with.
We don't hide how we make money
One way we make money is by promoting advertiser offerings that we’ve fully vetted and back with confidence. We don't hide that fact. Our community deserves 100% transparency so they can assess on their own whether to trust our ratings and guidance.
We put your pocketbook before ours. Here's how we do that:
Guiding individuals to the right product for them
We guide community members to only the products and services we’d feel comfortable recommending to a close family member. We recognize that people are in a lot of different situations and that they don't all need the same financial products.
Meeting each individual on their own terms
Doing right by each individual is more important than making money. We take a long-term perspective instead of prioritizing revenue. Building relationships and recommending the financial products that solve readers' problems is more important to us than profits.
We're firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. The Ascent, a Motley Fool service, does not cover all offers on the market. The Ascent has a dedicated team of editors and analysts focused on personal finance, and they follow the same set of publishing standards and editorial integrity while maintaining professional separation from the analysts and editors on other Motley Fool brands.