Decision-stage tax content, verified by editors with credentials
Most personal-finance sites stop at "what is a 401(k)?" We go to the moments where the math is worth tens of thousands — and we name the editor who wrote it.
What we cover
Money in motion, not money in motion-pictures
Life Money USA is a decision-stage tax and financial-planning resource for US households navigating major life events: divorce, inheritance, business sale, layoff, retirement, equity-comp vesting, self-employment, and real-estate investing.
Most personal-finance sites focus on basic education. We focus on the decision moments where getting the math right is worth tens of thousands of dollars. Should I roll over my 401(k) after the layoff? Does QSBS apply to my exit? When does an S-corp election start beating an LLC? What does step-up basis actually do to my inherited brokerage account?
Every guide pairs a calculator with worked real-world examples, current 2026 federal + state numbers, FAQs answering the long-tail questions, and context on which specialist to consult next.
Editorial process
How a guide becomes a guide
Sourced + verified
Every figure cited (federal brackets, contribution limits, IRMAA tiers, QSBS cap) is cross-checked against an internal source-of-truth file with the original IRS / SSA / CMS URL and verified-on date. Stale numbers are flagged before drafting.
Quality-gated at 90/100
Drafts pass through a rule-based proofreader (catches generic-FAQ patterns, missing schema, content-length issues) and an LLM critique agent that flags factual errors, voice drift, and decision-stage misclassification.
Refreshed on cadence
Every January 1 (new tax year) and May 1 (mid-year regulatory pass), every figure is re-verified, dateModified bumped, and changes pushed to Google's Indexing API + Bing's IndexNow within hours.
Meet the editors
Credentialed editors per vertical
Each vertical is led by a credentialed editor whose expertise matches the decision domain. Hover or click to see expertise.
Sarah Mitchell
CFP®, RICP®Sarah specializes in retirement-income strategy, Roth conversion ladders, RMD planning under SECURE 2.0, and IRMAA-bracket optimization. She has modeled gap-year conversion math for hundreds of pre-retirees and writes the retirement-income vertical for Life Money USA.
David Chen
CPA, MSTDavid covers small-business tax structuring, business-sale planning, and the QSBS § 1202 exclusion. With a Master of Science in Taxation and a CPA license, he writes Life Money USA's small-business and business-sale verticals.
Rachel Cohen
JD, CFP®Rachel writes the estate-planning and divorce verticals, focusing on QDRO mechanics, step-up basis under § 1014, federal and state estate tax, and the post-TCJA alimony rules. She holds a JD and CFP®.
Marcus Johnson
CFP®, Series 65Marcus covers equity compensation (RSU, ISO, ESPP, 83(b)) and severance/layoff planning. He writes the equity-comp and severance verticals for Life Money USA, with focus on AMT exposure, post-layoff Roth conversions, and the Rule of 55.
Emily Martinez
CPA, CCIMEmily writes the real-estate-investor vertical, covering 1031 exchanges, cost segregation, opportunity zones, and the passive-activity-loss rules under § 469. She is a CPA and Certified Commercial Investment Member.
What we are not
We are not licensed financial advisors taking client meetings, not registered investment advisers (RIAs), not tax preparers, and not attorneys. Life Money USA is an editorial content site, not an advisory practice.
Nothing on this site is personalized financial, tax, or legal advice. Use our content to build your understanding and to prepare for conversations with qualified professionals. When a decision genuinely requires specialist counsel, our guides name the specialist type — "cross-border tax CPA," "ERISA attorney," "estate litigator" — and explain why that specific specialist matters.
We participate in affiliate programs with financial tools (TurboTax, Fidelity, Schwab, Trust & Will, etc.). When we recommend a tool, we disclose the affiliate relationship and only recommend tools we'd use ourselves. See our affiliate disclosure for details.
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