About Us: Purpose, Trustworthiness, Team Member Biographies

What Is First Quarter Finance (FQF)?

First Quarter Finance is a blog dedicated to helping you improve your financial situation by providing the best personal finance content on the internet.

FQF was founded in 2013 with the goal of making personal finance easier for those in the first quarter of life to navigate and understand.

We remain committed to helping young people manage their finances, though we’ve grown to cover topics relevant to all ages.

We know that financial decisions are personal and that the best option often varies depending on your individual circumstances.

Our purpose is never to persuade but to provide our visitors with the facts necessary to make informed, confident financial decisions.

We cite root sources for every fact, so you’ll know exactly where we found this information and can easily confirm its accuracy.

What We Cover

First Quarter Finance covers a wide range of topics related to personal finance.

We aim to provide practical, actionable information relevant to your everyday money management, whether you’re focused on earning, saving, or spending.

You’ll find content related to:

Career and side income
Banking
Budgeting
Credit cards
Financing, loans, and “buy now, pay later” options
Financial transactions like cash back, check cashing, and money orders
Payment options like EBT, checks, and gift cards
Store policies like returns, exchanges, and price matching
Military, senior, and student discounts

First Quarter Finance does not cover controversial or sensitive topics like healthcare, cryptocurrency, or investments. We encourage our visitors to seek professional guidance when making important decisions regarding these topics.

Why Trust Us?

We follow journal-quality academic standards. We pride ourselves on the quality of our research and on providing the most thorough, clear citations in the personal finance space. Our writers cite root sources and confirm each fact through multiple avenues, ranging from governmental and company policy documentation to conversations with company representatives to firsthand experience. All of our content includes in-text and superscript citations.
We feature the best companies, whether or not they pay us for referring customers. No company can buy its way onto FQF, and we provide clear disclosures for every instance where we could potentially receive a commission.
Our research, writing, and editing are conducted by real people who are devoted to finding real answers to our users’ personal finance questions. We do not publish AI-generated content.
We’ve been doing this since 2013, and we’re still obsessed. Our passion for personal finance and decade-plus of experience in the space have allowed us to develop a research methodology and an understanding of the subject that are second to none.
We remain Founder-led, solicit negative feedback, and work hard to do what’s best for the user.

For more details, see our complete Editorial Policy.

If you have any feedback on our blog or content, please contact us. We welcome all comments (negative or positive) and are devoted to continuously improving the user experience.

Our Team

Our team consists of expert writers and editors.

We follow a lengthy editorial/peer-review process before publishing and regularly review all content, making necessary changes to ensure that it is up-to-date and accurate.

William Lipovsky

Founder & Editor-in-Chief

William Lipovsky headshot

I have been passionate about personal finance for as long as I can remember, and have been working for just as long. I bought my first mutual fund at age 10. Personal finance is my obsession, through and through. I spent my early years after college working as an analyst in banking and freelance writing.

My writing and quotes have appeared in a number of publications.

These include discussing smart time management with Forbes; avoiding burnout with Entrepreneur; tax tips for freelancers with USA Today; Social Security with U.S. News & World Report and Yahoo! Finance; and finding great discounts with HuffPost.

In 2013, I founded First Quarter Finance with the goal to help improve the finances of those in the first quarter of life.

FQF remains founder-led.

As Editor-in-Chief, I take an active role in shaping the blog’s content and editorial direction and am dedicated to providing actionable information that can help people understand and more smartly manage their finances.

See more about William

Lindsey Desmet

Managing Editor

Lindsey Desmet headshot

I’ve had an interest in the written word since a young age and was the curious kid who constantly asked “Why?” and “How?” when confronted with new information.

As the Managing Editor of First Quarter Finance, my ultimate goal is to ensure that all of FQF’s new and previously published content contains accurate and up-to-date information.

My research often includes interviews; thorough readings of official documents like state and federal laws, corporate handbooks, and cardholder agreements; and firsthand contact with corporate and store representatives.

I earned a master’s degree in library and information science and a graduate certificate in information management, which have given me a user-focused mindset and a passion for connecting people with the information they need.

Since originally joining FQF’s staff as a Writer in 2018, I have researched many prominent companies, including Capital One, CarMax, Discover, Enterprise, Nordstrom, Verizon, and Walmart.

I am also a member of the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing and ACES: The Society for Editing.

See more about Lindsey

In the Media

Our Founder and Editor-in-Chief, William Lipovsky, has discussed time management with Forbes; avoiding burnout with Entrepreneur; taxes for freelancers with USA Today; Social Security payment schedules with U.S. News & World Report and Yahoo! Finance; finding great discounts with HuffPost; investing with Business Insider; and the balance between spending time and spending money with Chime Bank’s Money Moves blog.

Nasdaq cites our research on cash withdrawal limits, and Mental Floss cites our findings on gift returns. Business Insider has also cited our research on senior discounts and side income.

Testimonials

Here’s what visitors have said about First Quarter Finance:

“Wow. Great site. Great information. Great resources. You’re awesome. Thank you for responding to these questions. We appreciate your time you give to help others out.” -Shelly M.

“Excellent article! The info I was looking for, current and easily digestible. Thank you.” -Will F.

“I am so pleased to have found this website! It has so many interesting articles and a ton of useful information. I cannot adequately express how refreshing it is! Thank you so much!” -Phyllis M.

“Wow, this was such a great article. Even gave places not to waste time at.” -Connor B.

“Love the website, lots of reputable information.” -Patrick

“Thank you for this valuable information. This really helps people on a tight budget.” -Stacey D.

“This article saved me so much money for my trip, thank you.” -Victoriana

“Thank you so much for the Senior Discount list. So thorough!” -Lisa

“Thank you for doing a current and comprehensive list of grocery stores that do and do not accept EBT for delivery or pick-up. […] I was just so impressed with the info you provided. It helps me know how to maximize my time and energy spent using my benefits.” -Yolanda H.

Resources

Editorial Policy

All content on First Quarter Finance is created following strict standards of journalistic integrity, accuracy, and objectivity.

We use clear sourcing to show where our information comes from, and advertisers have no influence on our content.

Find the details of these standards and practices in our Editorial Policy.

Privacy Policy

First Quarter Finance collects some visitor data via cookies but does not sell, trade, or give this data to any third parties for any reason.

See more about the data we collect and how to block cookies in our Privacy Policy.

Terms of Use

Using this blog constitutes your acceptance of its Terms of Use. In this policy, you can find more information on our use of affiliate links, prohibited uses of our intellectual property, and more.

Please read the Terms of Use carefully before using this blog and its associated pages.

Accessibility

First Quarter Finance is committed to making its content accessible to a broad and diverse range of users. See our Accessibility Policy.

Product and Brand Comparison Guidelines

Some content on First Quarter Finance involves comparing financial products (such as credit cards and bank accounts) or brands (such as car rental agencies) to help you decide which option(s) are best for your needs.

When comparing products and brands, we focus on the facts and provide recommendations based on objective analysis rather than subjective review.

Find more information about our research process and comparative criteria in our Product and Brand Comparison Guidelines.