How We Make Money
Dollars Ahead is free to use. This page says how the site is paid, what payment is never allowed to change, and how to tell a paid link from an ordinary one. Last updated .
The short version
- The site is meant to be paid for by affiliate commissions. If you open an account or buy something through an affiliate link, the company may pay us. You pay the same either way.
- A commission never changes a rule, a number, a test case, which companies a table includes, or the order of a table.
- We do not recommend a particular brokerage, bank, lender, fund or security. Nothing on this site is personal financial, tax, legal or investment advice.
- As of September 18, 2026, no page on this site carries an affiliate link.
Where the money comes from
An affiliate program is an agreement, usually made through an affiliate network, under which a company pays us when a reader who follows our link opens an account, funds it, or buys something. The companies we expect to work with this way are brokerages and investing apps, banks and cash accounts, lenders, and tax and planning software. The programs we take part in, and the pages that carry their links, are listed at the bottom of this page.
We do not charge readers, sell information about readers, or accept payment to publish a page, a tool, a review or a link.
What a commission never changes
- The numbers. Every calculator computes from the rules in its parameter file, and the page shows the sources and the date they were checked. Payment has no input into that file.
- The test cases. Each tool's expected answers come from a separate reference calculation and are published on the tool's page.
- What a table includes. A data table lists every company that meets the criteria stated with the table, whether or not it pays us.
- The order. Tables are sorted by the figure they compare, such as a rate, or alphabetically, and each table says which. We never sort by commission.
- What we say about a company. We report what a company's own documents say, with the date we read them. A company that pays us is described the same way as one that does not.
How paid links are marked
Every page has a notice at the top. A link that can pay us also has a note right next to it, where you see it before you click, in line with the Federal Trade Commission's guides on endorsements (16 CFR Part 255). Where a program requires its own disclosure wording, we use that wording. Links in a page's Sources section go to government agencies and to companies' own documents, and never pay us. How affiliate links use cookies is described in the privacy policy.
What a company whose link we carry can and cannot do
It cannot decide what a calculator computes, which companies a table includes, or the order of a table. Some affiliate programs set rules for how their name, logo and offer are shown, or ask to review a page before their link goes on it. If a company has reviewed a page that carries its link, that page says so. If a program's rules would require us to change a number, leave a competitor out of a table, or recommend its product, we leave its link off the page.
What we do not do
We do not tell you which brokerage, bank, lender, fund or security to choose. The tools show what published rules do to the numbers you enter; they do not know your situation. For a decision that matters, take the numbers to a professional who is licensed to advise you.
Affiliate programs we take part in
| As of | |
|---|---|
| Programs | None. No page on this site carries an affiliate link. |
When we join a program and place its link, we will list the company, the network and the pages that carry the link here, and change the date above.
Questions and corrections
If you think a commission has shaped something on this site, or a figure is wrong, tell us. We will look, fix what is wrong, and note the change on the page.