Money, plainly
Most personal-finance writing is condescending or panicked. Almost never plain. Five rules for plain.
Most personal-finance writing is either condescending or panicked. Almost never plain. Five rules I follow when I write for friends:
- State what changes if you ignore it. Most tax and finance writing buries this. Lead with it and the reader can decide everything else.
- Use the smallest number of numbers. A page with two real numbers usually wins.
- Name the trade-off. There is always one. Pretending there isn’t is what makes finance feel oily.
- Time-stamp it. A 2019 explainer of GST is a 2019 explainer of GST. Say so.
- End with the next action. Not a list of options. The single next move.
That’s the whole style guide.