Affiliate & referral disclosure

This is the plain-language version, required by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and, more importantly, owed to you.

What that means in practice

• The guide says when ours is not the best route. In some programs the referral path pays you more than signing up cold. In others, going direct or another person's link can pay you more than ours, and where that is so, the guide says it.
• The advice does not depend on it. Verdicts, rankings, and the traps we list are decided by reading the terms, not by what pays this site. An offer is never ranked higher because it pays us more.
• We say when to skip our link. Where going direct is equal or better, the guide says so and gives you the direct path.
• No hidden relationships. We are not employed by any of the companies featured here, and nothing on this site is financial, investment, tax, or legal advice.

Where you will see it

Every guide that contains a referral link says so in plain words, right next to the button, and again in a full disclosure at the bottom of the page. Referral buttons are marked, and outbound links carry the standard sponsored / nofollow attributes search engines ask for.

How the work stays honest

The full method, including everything the Doctor always and never does, is on the How we work page. If you ever find a guide that reads like it was written to sell rather than to inform, that is a bug; email hello@fineprintdoctor.com and we will fix it.