Our standards
How we check facts
The short version
Everything on MoneyPlanIt is written to teach, not to sell. This page explains where our facts come from, how we check them, how often we recheck them and what happens when we get something wrong.
- Every lesson and guide lists its sources at the end, and numbered markers in the text show which source backs which point.
- We use primary sources wherever we can: regulators, government pages, exchanges, peer-reviewed papers and the published research of the firms that ran the study.
- Figures that change, such as tax allowances, fees and leverage limits, carry the date we last checked them.
- We don’t give personal advice, tips or “stocks to buy now”, and we don’t earn from any product we mention.
- Spotted a mistake? Email your contact email and we’ll fix it and say what changed.
Where our facts come from
We start from the organisation closest to the fact. For rules and tax, that’s the regulator or the government page: the FCA, HMRC and GOV.UK in the UK, the SEC, FINRA and the IRS in the US, and the equivalents elsewhere. For research findings, it’s the original paper or the fund manager’s own report. For market mechanics, it’s the exchange or the index provider.
We use news articles and other websites only to find the original source, or when nothing better exists. When we do, we say so in the source list.
- Rules and tax: regulators and government pages.
- Research findings: the published paper or report, with the authors, year and period it covers.
- Product facts: the provider’s own documents, such as a fund factsheet or key information document.
- Market data in examples: illustrative numbers, clearly labelled as examples. We don’t present made-up prices as real ones.
How we check a page before it goes live
- Every figure is matched to its source. Each number in a lesson or guide links to a numbered source, and we open that source to confirm the figure and the period it covers.
- Every sum is worked out again. Worked examples and number questions in the quizzes are recalculated, so the answer and the explanation agree.
- The lesson order is checked. Our build tools flag any lesson that uses a term before the lesson that teaches it, and any citation number that doesn’t match a listed source.
- The risks are stated plainly. Every strategy shows its weak spots and worst periods, not just its best results. Every product guide says whether you can lose more than you put in.
- A person reads it. Marcus reads and edits every page before it’s published.
Keeping things up to date
Tax allowances, product fees, leverage limits and regulations change. Pages that depend on them show a “Last reviewed” date, and we recheck them at least once a year and whenever a rule we cite changes, for example after the UK Budget or the start of a new tax year.
Research lessons are rechecked when the publisher releases a new edition of the study, such as Morningstar’s yearly “Mind the Gap” report.
How we use AI tools
We use AI tools to help draft lessons, suggest quiz questions and check sums and spelling. They don’t decide what’s true. Every figure is checked against its source, and every page is read and edited by a person before it’s published, as described above.
Education, not advice or selling
MoneyPlanIt explains how investing and trading work. It doesn’t tell you what to buy, and nothing on the site is personal financial advice. We’re not authorised by the FCA to give advice.
We don’t currently earn money from any product, platform or broker we mention. If that changes, for example through affiliate links, every such link will be clearly labelled, it will never change what a lesson says, and any promotion of a regulated product will use wording approved by an FCA-authorised firm.
We don’t accept payment to include, rank or review a product.
Corrections
If you think something is wrong or out of date, email your contact email with the page and what you think should change. We check every report against the source.
When we correct a fact, we update the page and its “Last reviewed” date. If the mistake could have changed what a reader decided, such as a wrong tax rate, we add a short note on the page saying what changed and when.