Financial advice you can depend on
We acknowledge that personal finance is a complicated topic and hold ourselves to a high standard for all the content we publish. We uphold that standard with the CNET Money Financial Review Board, a group of financial experts who review and vet our content to ensure accuracy and trustworthiness. Each article is drafted by a subject-matter expert and reviewed by an expert, who may make suggestions, improvements or comments to integrate into the final draft.
CNET Money’s Financial Review Board includes wealth managers, financial planners, investors, compliance specialists, insurance educators and other financial experts.
Here’s how the expert review process works
Experts play an important role in CNET Money stories, whether providing insights to help readers understand a financial topic or reviewing a story for accuracy and clarity. We want all of our stories to make readers smarter about financial topics, from picking the right high-yield savings account to learning how the latest Federal Reserve rate hike affects you.
All CNET Money stories begin with research -- a writer might unpack recent data, review a new study or interview industry experts to explain how financial news and trends affect your money. From there, an editor fact-checks the article, while ensuring the content is clear and helpful to readers.
Some articles are then reviewed by trusted experts in our network -- including those highlighted below -- as a final step to ensure our advice and information earns their confidence. The expert reviews the content for accuracy, makes recommendations, and may add their own insights and advice.
CNET Money’s financial expert reviewers
Our review board members are carefully selected based on their qualifications, experience and reputation as professionals in the financial sector. Here’s who’s on our board.
Anna N’Jie-Konte
Anna N’Jie-Konte is the president and director of financial planning for Re-Envision Wealth, one of the few black-owned advisory firms in the country. She is among a small group of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) certified financial planners to give comprehensive, holistic financial advice. She currently serves as a financial adviser and investment consultant to individuals and institutions hoping to build wealth in an intentional and values-aligned fashion.
A proud first-generation American with roots in Puerto Rico and Gambia, N’Jie-Konte is committed to the economic liberation of Black and brown communities. She spent nearly a decade advising ultrahigh net-worth families ($5 million and above) to grow and secure their wealth for future generations. She left the corporate world in the hopes of giving women like her -- Black women, Latinas, daughters of immigrants -- the blueprint for leveraging their incomes to build and protect their wealth.
N’Jie-Konte also sits on the board of the Finserv Foundation, has been named three times to the Investment News’ list of Top 100 Influential Financial Advisors, and has been featured in well-known publications.
Bernadette Joy
Bernadette Joy is a nationally recognized money expert featured on Good Morning America and NBC News, and in Time and USA Today. She inspires her audience to explore the intersection between net worth and self-worth.
While she has two degrees in business and a degree in psychology, her credibility comes from leading by example. As first-generation Filipino Americans, she and her husband AJ paid off a whopping $300,000 of debt in three years and grew their first $1 million of net worth in their thirties.
Joy founded Crush Your Money Goals® for the many who are overlooked and underestimated by traditional financial services. Her goal is to help others gain confidence in managing money and provide a blueprint to achieve financial independence.
Bola Sokunbi
Bola Sokunbi is a Certified Financial Education Instructor and founder of Clever Girl Finance, one of the largest personal finance platforms for women in the US. She is the bestselling author of Choosing To Prosper and the three-part Clever Girl Finance Book Series. Sokunbi is also the recipient of the 2021 Financial Education Instructor of the Year Award from the National Council of Financial Educators.
Sokunbi and Clever Girl Finance have been featured by several websites, podcasts and media outlets, including CNBC, Forbes, Essence, Black Enterprise and Good Morning America.
Gerri Detweiler
Gerri Detweiler is a credit expert who has been interviewed in more than 4,500 news stories and answered over 10,000 credit questions online. Her articles have been widely syndicated, and she is the author or coauthor of five books, including her most recent title, Finance Your Own Business: Get on the Financing Fast Track. She hosted her own live radio show for three years and testified before Congress on consumer credit legislation.
Julia Menez
Julia Menez is a points strategy coach, speaker and host of the Geobreeze Travel Podcast.
She traveled to over 30 countries before turning 30 but saved money using credit card points along the way. Through her podcast and social media channels, she distills the strategies from top award travelers around the world and creates step-by-step tutorials for how you can make the most of your points and miles. She is also a former speaker for FinConX, a personal finance conference and has been featured in several publications.
Leslie Tayne
Leslie H. Tayne is a financial attorney and author of the book titled Life and Debt. She’s also the founder of Tayne Law Group.
Tayne has over 20 years of experience in resolving consumer and business debt and has dedicated her career to providing practical solutions to individuals and businesses facing financial challenges. Her reputation as a leader in the field has earned her consecutive listings on the New York Super Lawyers website, which recognizes top-rated attorneys in the New York Metro area.
Tayne’s insights on credit and debt have been featured in renowned publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, USA Today and U.S. News & World Report.
Mark Kantrowitz
Mark Kantrowitz is an expert on student financial aid, FAFSA, scholarships, 529 plans, education tax benefits and student loans. His mission is to deliver practical information, advice and tools to students and their families to make informed decisions about planning and paying for college.
Kantrowitz is also the author of five bestselling books, including his most recent, How to Appeal for More College Financial Aid. He has been quoted in many publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Money Magazine.
Melissa Cohn
Melissa Cohn has been in the mortgage industry for over 35 years. She began her career with CitiMortgage before launching her own mortgage brokerage, The Manhattan Mortgage Company, in 1985. As one of the first independent mortgage brokers, Cohn grew her business with more than $5 billion in annual volume. In 2020, she joined William Raveis Mortgage, where she is currently a top originator in the company. Her insights are regularly featured in the press, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Bloomberg.
Rita-Soledad Fernández Paulino
Rita-Soledad Fernández Paulino is the CEO and founder of Wealth Para Todos, a company with a mission to teach progressive BIPOC, women and LGBTQ folk to create a financial plan to retire early while engaging in the deepest levels of self-care.
Shang Saavedra
Shang Saavedra is the founder and CEO of Save My Cents, a personal finance education platform that demonstrates how mental health and financial wealth are connected, and helps others use the power of an abundance mindset to unlock more wealth. Saavedra finished saving for her retirement by the age of 31 and now lives a work-optional life in Southern California with her husband, two boys and two cats. She teaches key habits and behaviors to become less fearful of money and to live life with joy. Published in numerous national publications, Saavedra received her bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard and her MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Shonda Martin
Shonda Martin is the founder of Road To 750, a credit repair and wealth program. Martin is also an expert in minority homeownership and FICO score enhancement. Martin works to simplify complex financial topics, making her a go-to authority. She has a mastery of FICO scoring models and a knack for uncovering credit opportunities.
