We Are Personal Finance Enthusiasts on a Mission to Help You Live a Smarter, Happier, and Richer Life
Managing personal finances can be stressful, with so much advice out there -- some good, a lot bad. We’re here to help you navigate the noise and confidently reach your financial goals.
What is Motley Fool Money?
Motley Fool Money (formerly The Ascent) is part of The Motley Fool, an authority in the investing and personal finance space since 1993. We’re not just a content team – we’re personal finance enthusiasts who often use the products we rate and recommend ourselves. As full-time employees of The Motley Fool, we bring the same unbiased analysis and financial expertise that The Motley Fool is known for, applied to your everyday financial decisions.
Whether you’re looking for the best credit card, the right stock broker, or a new bank account, we’re here to help you take actionable steps toward improving your finances and achieving your goals.
Our Connection to The Motley Fool
Motley Fool Money is 100% owned and operated by The Motley Fool, and the team behind it includes seasoned editors and analysts who have been at The Motley Fool for over a decade.
We use the name “Motley Fool Money” rather than simply “The Motley Fool” to clarify that this section of our site is dedicated specifically to personal finance content, distinct from the analysts who cover stocks and investments.
Our Mission is to Make the World Smarter, Happier, and Richer
To achieve our mission, we stand by these core principles:
- All content is free: We believe everyone deserves access to the best personal finance advice. Our financial product reviews and advice are available to you without any paywall.
- Firsthand experience: Wherever possible, we rely on first-person reviews of financial products, so you can read about an offer’s pros and cons from someone who has used it.
- The Golden Rule: We treat our recommendations as if we were advising a family member. If we wouldn’t recommend it to someone we love, we won’t recommend it here.
Our Commitment to Transparency and Integrity
We take pride in creating all our content in-house, without third-party agencies. Our content is written solely by our full-time employees, and we ensure that our team’s expertise and integrity shine through in every review. You can learn more about the experts behind our content on our Authors page.
Our ratings and recommendations are based purely on what we believe is best, not influenced by affiliate payouts. This approach ensures editorial integrity and sets us apart from other sites.
Motley Fool Money’s content follows the same rigorous editorial standards as all content across The Motley Fool, ensuring accuracy and transparency. You can trust our reviews, as we strive to provide the best value for our readers.
How We’re Compensated
Because transparency is so important to us, you should know that, in some instances, we may receive compensation from partners when someone clicks, applies, or registers for a product reviewed on our site.
Our editorial opinions, ratings and product rankings, and reviews are not influenced by these partners in any way.
For more information on how we make money and our advertising partners, please visit Our Advertisers page. If you have any questions please contact us at [email protected].
Meet the Motley Fool Money Team
Brendan Byrnes
Managing Director
Brendan is managing director of Motley Fool Money. He focuses primarily on overall strategy, team management, business development, and marketing. Despite being an avid investor for years, Brendan was relatively late to discovering the power of credit cards but now is hooked on maximizing his rewards. Outside of work he enjoys traveling, seeing live music, hiking/snowboarding depending on the season, and pretending to be a good photographer.
Jack Caporal
Lead Research Analyst
Jack is the lead financial research analyst for The Motley Fool and Motley Fool Money. He focuses on uncovering and analyzing trends that shape personal financial decisions, and product affinity shifts, across the United States. In doing so, he hopes to better understand how to help people become smarter, happier, and richer. His research has been featured across television networks, in the New York Times, Bloomberg, CNBC, and cited in Government testimony. When he's not in a spreadsheet, Jack enjoys spending time in the mountains and cheering for his hometown Boston sports teams. Check out Jack's research
Jake Fitzgerald
Editorial Strategist
Jake is an Editorial Strategist for Motley Fool Money. He focuses on our content production, distribution channels, and product ratings. He didn't get his first credit card until he started working at Motley Fool Money and has now gone on multiple trips using only credit card rewards points. He has the ability to spend an entire day tailgating, the inability to take himself too seriously, and lives with a putter he's not currently speaking to. When not at work, you might find Jake golfing, cooking, or at the barn with his wife, two boxers, and his mini horse, Mango.
Malia Havlicek
Developer
Malia is a developer for Motley Fool Money’s website, building custom tools and features to give users and administrators an excellent site experience. She’s a nerd at heart with a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from CU Boulder and loves to program things she’s never programmed before. Malia spends the majority of her “free time” chasing her four boys across the globe, currently in 4 different countries, but she hopes to get back into cycling and hiking as she transitions to an empty nest.
Taylor Giovan
Director of Content
Taylor is the Director of Content for Motley Fool Money, focused on supporting the team in their quest to deliver a highly engaging and user-friendly experience. Outside of work, you can find her bragging about paying off her NYU degree 5 years earlier than the 20-year national average (and giving advice to shop around before committing to a private school), cooking a new dish that she is likely burning, and adding gym classes to her calendar that she rarely attends.
James McClenathen
Managing Editor
James is managing editor of Motley Fool Money, overseeing the production and quality of our content. He was previously the editor of The Motley Fool's personal finance bureau, and he also did a brief stint as a reporter. His financial goals include buying a home and retiring early. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, reading, exploring Colorado, and a friendly game of pool.
Ethan Mellin
Senior Performance Marketing Manager
Ethan is a performance marketing manager at Motley Fool Money, where he leverages paid media to share personal finance education and tools with the masses. Even before joining Motley Fool Money, budgets, cash back rewards, and high-yield savings accounts were some of his best friends. When not at work, you'll find Ethan cooking, reading about cooking, thinking about cooking… basically anything connected to cooking. His favorite way to save? Skip takeout, and get in the kitchen!
Brady Moe
Technology Manager
I am a technologist at heart and get excited about any and all new technologies. I love exploring how technology impacts our users, and how I can leverage that to make their experience better. I'm a passionate skier, which was a big reason why I moved out to Colorado. I also own a Light Art business that I moonlight at, called "Light Stuff", and we've had some of our art at the popular midwest music festival Electric Forest in 2016 and 2017.
Brooklyn Sprunger
SEO Lead
Brooklyn leads the content team behind product reviews and ratings at Motley Fool Money, ensuring readers get well-researched, expert-backed insights to make smarter financial decisions. With nearly seven years working full-time in financial content -- four of them at The Motley Fool -- she has developed a deep passion for personal finance, from investing strategies to everyday money management. Her financial goals include buying a house and planning as many trips as her budget allows. In her free time, you’ll likely find her listening to a pop culture podcast or telling anyone who will listen to get a high-yield savings account.
Liz Wilson
Developer
Liz is a developer for Motley Fool Money where she builds and maintains features that keep the website running smoothly for everyone. As a career switcher coming to software development more recently, she is passionate about making up for lost time with her savings and loves working on projects that help others take control of their finances, too. When not making things for Motley Fool Money with code, Liz is making things by hand with yarn, fabric, and thread, or playing video games and tabletop RPGs with her husband, family, and friends.
Joel O'Leary
Writer
Joel is a full-time writer at Motley Fool Money, where he brings a clear, approachable voice to topics ranging from credit cards to side hustles. He’s been writing about money since 2018, covering topics like credit cards, savings hacks, and the FIRE movement. Before joining the team, managed editorial content for the How To Money podcast. When he’s not behind the laptop, Joel is likely at the beach surfing, or out and about with his family.
Ryan Wilcox
Writer
Ryan is a full-time personal finance writer at Motley Fool Money. He’s been covering topics like credit cards and savings since 2022, when he began his writing career at The Points Guy. He later joined Motley Fool Money, where he continues helping people who are new to the world of personal finance. Outside of work, you’ll find Ryan watching movies, listening to music, or obsessively updating his Letterboxd account.
Motley Fool Money in the News
We're at the heart of consumer trends in personal finance, and we're proud to say our work has been recognized by some of the most respected names around, including the White House, Forbes, Business Insider, and more.
Take a look at our latest research or reach out to our team in our Newsroom.
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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. Motley Fool Money does not cover all offers on the market. Motley Fool Money is 100% owned and operated by The Motley Fool. Our knowledgeable team of personal finance editors and analysts are employed by The Motley Fool and held to the same set of publishing standards and editorial integrity while maintaining professional separation from the analysts and editors on other Motley Fool brands. Terms may apply to offers listed on this page.