A verdict is a calculation, not advice
Each question on this site has two parts. The text is the research: what the evidence says, with a source for every number. The tool is the calculation: you answer a few questions, and it runs the numbers for your country to give you a direct suggestion, such as “renting and investing comes out ahead for you”.
Every verdict comes with its working. It says how clear the result is, names the two or three things that decided it, and shows what would flip it. If you disagree with one of our assumptions, you can change it in the tool and see what happens.
A verdict is general information from public data. It doesn’t know your whole situation, and it isn’t personal financial advice. Before a big decision, check the parts that matter most to you with someone who can see all of it.
One text for everyone, your numbers in the tool
The text never assumes where you live, how old you are, your sex or what you earn. It can compare countries and groups, because that’s evidence about the world, but every sentence has to hold for a 23-year-old woman in Lagos and a 34-year-old man in Oslo alike. Anything that depends on you, such as your country’s taxes or the prices where you live, comes from data in the tool.
Supporting another country means adding data, not writing another article. One text kept correct beats many versions that drift apart.
How clear a verdict is
Each verdict says how far apart the outcomes are:
- Clear: the outcomes are far apart, and small changes to the assumptions don’t change the answer.
- Leans this way: one choice comes out ahead, but not by much.
- Close call: the outcomes are so close that the assumptions decide it. The verdict says so, and leads with what tips it.
Where exactly those lines fall depends on the question. Each article states its lines in its assumptions.
What would flip it
Each tool reruns its calculation with its most important inputs set higher and lower, and reports where the suggestion changes: for example, “if you stay longer than 9 years” or “if your card’s rate fell below 7%”. Many of those are buttons: press one to put the change into the tool.
Where we have data for your country
| Coverage | When | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| National data | Your country’s own statistics cover everything the tool needs | The verdict, with no caveat |
| International data | International sources (such as the IMF, OECD, World Bank or UN) cover it | The verdict, with a note that it uses international data for your country and is less precise |
| No data yet | Something the tool needs is missing | A plain “we don’t have data for your country yet”, and the assumptions to fill in yourself for a verdict anyway |
A stand-in figure is always labelled. A tool never swaps in another country’s data without saying so.
Every number has a source
Every figure in a text has a footnote, every chart names its source, and every assumption in a tool shows where it came from. We go to the source itself, in this order of preference: official statistics and primary datasets; systematic reviews and large peer-reviewed studies; reports from international bodies and established research institutes; and single studies, which we say are single studies. We don’t cite sellers, such as a bank on mortgages, or news stories in place of the research they report.
Before we cite a number, we open the source and find it there.
How pages stay current
The data behind each question is refreshed from its public sources, by hand, monthly or when a source publishes. Each article’s statements that new data could make false are checked automatically: if a refresh contradicts the text, the site won’t publish until the text is rewritten. Every page says when it was last reviewed.
Before a question goes live, its numbers are checked against their sources, its tool is used as readers in a country with national data, one with international data and one with none, and every verdict sentence is read for wording that sounds like advice.
What we don’t do
No ads, no sponsored verdicts, no referral links, and no accounts. Nothing on the site depends on you buying a product, a home or a course. What you type in a tool stays on the page and is gone when you leave it; it’s never stored or sent anywhere.