Editorial Guidelines
Last updated: July 11, 2026
Every article on Her Own Compass follows the same rulebook: lived experience first, exact numbers, named sources, human review before publishing, and fast corrections. This page is that rulebook, in public.
Who we write for
Women in their 30s, 40s, and 50s managing money on one income — rebuilding after divorce, running a single-paycheck household, or planning their most independent decade. Every guide assumes one income and no partner backup, because that’s the reader’s reality.
Our content standards
- Experience before advice. Strategies are tested on real one-income budgets — the writer’s or documented reader stories — before they’re recommended. Product reviews require first-hand use and include drawbacks.
- Exact numbers, dated prices. “Save more” never appears here; “$417 a month for 12 months” does. Quoted prices and rates carry the date they were checked.
- Named sources. Financial concepts, statistics, and safety data are checked against and credited to reputable sources — government data, official program pages, and established research.
- Clear boundaries. We publish education, not personalized financial advice. YMYL articles (money, insurance, credit) open with a disclaimer, and credit content always assumes paying balances in full.
- Independence from monetization. Affiliate partnerships never decide verdicts or rankings — the Affiliate Disclosure covers how links work.
How an article is made
- Research & outline — the topic gets a detailed brief: questions to answer, sources to check, numbers to verify.
- Drafting — written in Rachel Bennett’s voice from lived experience and verified research. Writing tools, including AI assistance, may support drafting — the AI Content Policy explains exactly how.
- Fact-check & human review — a human editor checks every claim, number, and link before anything goes live. No article publishes without human review.
- Byline & dating — every article shows its author, its reviewer, and its last-updated date.
- Maintenance — money articles are re-checked when rates and program rules change; outdated guidance is updated or retired.
Corrections policy
Found an error — a stale price, a broken link, a wrong number? Tell us. Verified factual errors are corrected within 3 business days, and material corrections are noted on the article. We’d rather be corrected than wrong.
Who’s behind this
Her Own Compass is written by Rachel Bennett and operated as an independent publication. Read the full story on the About page.