The Ascent's Best-Of 2023 Awards
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Achieve your money goals with our curated guide to the best financial products, used and tested by our own experts. Backed by our Golden Rule, we’ve chosen our favorite credit cards, banks, investing apps, and more… for all of life’s journeys.
Backed by The Motley Fool's mission...
...to make the world smarter, happier, and richer. The Ascent taps into The Motley Fool's decades of investing expertise to bring you unbiased analysis of the best personal finance products. We only pick products that we'd personally recommend to friends, like you. That's our commitment to editorial integrity. We may earn a commission when referring you to a top-rated product, but know that our awards are not influenced by advertising partners in any way.
Experts You Can Trust
Our financial experts are constantly testing products to bring you the best. With decades of industry experience, our experts provide honest first-person reviews whenever possible to inform our selections.
Jake FitzGerald | Editorial Strategist
Jake is an Editorial Strategist for The Ascent. He specializes in product ratings and all things credit cards, and wants to make sure each person has the best card for them!
Expertise
Product ratings, credit cards, and content production.
Natasha Etzel | Writer
Natasha is a freelance writer who specializes in personal finance, credit card, credit card rewards, and travel hacking content.
Expertise
Personal finance, credit cards, credit card rewards, travel rewards, travel hacking
Education
B.A., Advertising and PR
Past Experience
- Marketing Associate
- English as a Foreign Language Instructor
Has Written For
NerdWallet, The Points Guy, Orbitz, FlyerTalk
Career Highlights
- Getting the chance to travel to 30+ countries while being a freelance writer
- Transitioning from reader to writer for some of her favorite websites
- Writing content that helps others improve their finances
Lyle Daly | Writer
Lyle Daly is a freelance writer who has been covering personal finance since 2016.
Expertise
6 years in credit cards, cryptocurrency, investing, travel, travel rewards, banking industries
Past Experience
- Ghostwriter
- Rideshare driver
Has Written For
Motley Fool syndication partners: USA Today, MSN, Yahoo Finance, Nasdaq, Fox Business
Career Highlights
- Living as a digital nomad and being able to explore the world while writing
- Being one of the first Ascent writers and seeing it grow from an idea to an amazing personal finance site with dozens of awesome team members
- Hearing from and about people who used my articles to help decide on their next credit card
Maurie Backman | Writer
Maurie Backman is a personal finance writer covering topics ranging from Social Security to credit cards to mortgages. She also has an editing background and has hosted personal finance podcasts.
Expertise
Retirement, investing, commercial real estate, mortgages, credit cards, banks, insurance, taxes, general personal finance
Education
B.A. Creative Writing
Past Experience
- Former hedge fund associate
- Online marketer
- Electronic toy designer
Has Written For
Motley Fool syndication partners: USA Today, Business Insider, CNN Business
Career Highlights
- Seeing her work on CNN's home page
- Having people reach out to her saying her articles have changed their lives
- Seeing her toy designs on store shelves
Brittney Myers | Writer
Brittney is a data-obsessed finance nerd whose personal credit card collection is in the double digits. She has been sharing personal finance advice with readers since 2016.
Expertise
Personal finance, credit cards, travel rewards, crypto
Education
B.S. Physics, University of Florida
Past Experience
- Editor
- Content Developer
- Graphic Designer
- Test Developer
Has Written For
National Foundation for Credit Counseling, Reader's Digest, CardRates.com, CreditSoup
Career Highlights
- Receiving feedback from readers who have used her advice to make smarter financial decisions
- Building and running a profitable small business
- Finishing her first book
Kailey Hagen | Writer
Kailey Hagen has been covering personal finance topics, including banks, insurance, and retirement since 2013.
Expertise
Retirement, investing, banks, insurance, taxes, personal finance
Education
B.A. English, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Past Experience
- Proofreader
- Research Analyst
Has Written For
The Simple Dollar and Motley Fool syndication partners: USA Today, MSN Money, Yahoo Finance
Career Highlights
- Growing a successful freelancing career
- Seeing her work published by major media outlets
- Being thanked by readers who have learned something valuable from her articles
Trusted by financial media
FAQs
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Award winners are determined by The Ascent’s editorial team, which consists of industry experts, editorial strategists, and writers with deep experience across credit cards, banks and banking products, investments, loans, mortgages, car insurance, cryptocurrency, and other personal finance topics.. The nominees were determined using our in-house rating system. From there our brightest minds voted on specific categories, and winners were determined.
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We do not accept awards submissions. Our team of experts evaluates hundreds of financial products that we feel can genuinely enhance your personal financial life. Our picks are not influenced by advertising partners in any way.
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Our separate best-of lists -- that are updated on a monthly basis -- include not only awards winners but also a deeper lineup of top offerings in the market. The common threads that these offers share is they’re all fully-vetted picks for a specific need and we’re comfortable recommending them to our closest friends and family members.
About the Author
Jake is an Editorial Strategist for The Ascent. He focuses on our content production, distribution channels, and product ratings. He specializes in all thing credit cards and wants to make sure each person has the best card for them! While spending the last decade editing financial content, 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.
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.