About | FinanceBuzz

Quick facts about us

Headquartered in Delray Beach, Florida, but we embrace a remote workstyle.

You can find our team members in 16 states and six countries.

Over 120 million people visit FinanceBuzz annually.

More than 120 expert writers contribute to our website.

We love our active Facebook community — FBZ Elite Travel & Points and Real Estate Investors.

You can call us "FBZ" for short. (We do.)

Editorial leadership team

Tracy Odell

SVP, Content Brands

Tracy leads editorial and business operations for Launch Potato content brands, including FinanceBuzz.

Prior to joining Launch Potato in 2019, Tracy held leadership roles at Student Loan Hero (acquired by LendingTree), Meredith Corporation (GM of online lifestyle brands), and CafeMedia (part of the founding team at CafeMom). She has over 20 years of content and brand experience across the personal finance, lifestyle, and parenting verticals.

Tracy earned her B.A. in Professional Writing from Carnegie Mellon University. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling with her family (using credit card points, of course), watching the latest reality TV nonsense, and hitting some balls at tennis/pickleball courts.

A few words to describe my investing style:

ETFs all day

A few words to describe my budgeting style:

Conservative not restrictive

Biggest financial lesson I've learned:

Live within your means

Becca Borawski Jenkins

VP of Content Strategy

Becca oversees all content creation for the Launch Potato brands, including FinanceBuzz.

Becca earned an M.F.A. in Cinema-Television Production from the University of Southern California, and has spent the last 20 years producing content in video and written form. She spent the first part of her editorial career building health and fitness brands, and now focuses on personal finance. Becca's expertise has appeared on websites like Bankrate, Realtor.com, The Muse, HuffPost, Greatist, and many more.

Becca spent almost 10 years as a full-time RVer traveling the United States, but has now settled down on a homestead in the Ozarks.

A few words to describe my investing style:

Dollar-cost averaging

A few words to describe my budgeting style:

Optimize for experience

Biggest financial lesson I've learned:

It's far better to deal with debt problems head-on than to ignore them

Chris Lewis, CEPF

Director of Digital PR

Chris oversees the creation of original data-driven content, press relations, and off-page SEO efforts for the Launch Potato brands, including FinanceBuzz.

With nearly a decade in content marketing and SEO, Chris is an expert in all things data visualization, data storytelling, content strategy, and link-building across a variety of verticals. He is also obsessed with credit card points and hotel rewards.

Chris earned his M.S. in Data Science from the University of Miami, and is based in Miami, FL. Outside of work, Chris is an avid sneakerhead, a Costco aficionado, and is unreachable on the weekends during football season.

A few words to describe my investing style:

Don't touch it

A few words to describe my budgeting style:

Just be reasonable

Biggest financial lesson I've learned:

Never cosign a loan

Editorial guidelines

Editorial integrity is vitally important to creating exceptional content and fulfilling the FinanceBuzz mission. Our editorial team is committed to providing accurate and in-depth reviews and information to help you make financial decisions with confidence. To that end, we follow a set of key principles to preserve our expert team's judgment and maintain editorial independence.

Key principles for our content

We maintain a team of subject-matter experts, including writers and editors with firsthand experience with financial products, expertise in various financial verticals, and decades of cumulative experience.

We also leverage the support of our Expert Review Board advisors, comprised of industry professionals and academics, to further ensure the credibility and accuracy of our content.

Our content goes through a rigorous fact-checking process before publishing to ensure accuracy to the best of our ability.

We intensively research all products and services we review, and our team members personally use a wide array of financial products.

Our product rankings and scores are based on objective measurements and product features as well as expert opinions from our editorial team.

We regularly review and update content to ensure accuracy and usefulness.

Our team is held to an editorial independence policy that disallows outside influence on our opinions and recommendations and prevents our editorial team members from working directly with partner brands.

Key principles for partnerships

We are transparent with how we make money and FinanceBuzz partnerships do not influence our editorial opinions or product ratings.

Partners are not able to review or request changes to our content except in the cases of factual errors or compliance reasons.

We do work with partners to ensure our content is accurate and includes any required legal language and disclaimers. Financial products are highly regulated, and partners provide feedback to meet compliance standards.

We aim to make sure everything on our site is up-to-date and accurate as of the publishing date, but we cannot guarantee we haven't missed something. It's the reader's responsibility to double-check all information before making any financial decision.

If you spot something that looks wrong, please let us know so we can correct it.

Product review guidelines

We know that readers don't come to reviews looking for sales pitches. Our product reviews are never structured as a ploy to get readers to buy or try something, but rather as a thorough evaluation that accounts for potential user needs and offers reasonable suggestions based on our expertise. We encourage our readers to find solutions that meet their personal needs.

Our editors and writers

Melinda Sineriz, ABFP™

Managing Editor

Melinda has over a decade of personal finance content experience, with articles appearing in publications like Business Insider and Bizfluent. They have a B.A. in English from Miami University (the one in Ohio) and a master's degree in teaching from Bard College.

Melinda currently resides in Toledo, Ohio, with an abundance of cats and dogs. They enjoy scary movies and books and hope to (finally) finish writing a novel at some point.

A few words to describe my investing style:

Set and forget

A few words to describe my budgeting style:

Everything in moderation

Biggest financial lesson I've learned:

Own and work through your financial mistakes

Laura Hohenstein

Editorial Director

Laura Hohenstein's personal finance education started at home, with two parents who worked in banking. It continued when she joined a bank herself, where she spent seven years working directly with customers on their accounts. Now serving as the Editorial Director at FinanceBuzz, she has edited more than 400 articles on Social Security, retirement planning, Medicare, and 401(k) strategies, helping readers understand the policy changes and financial decisions that shape their day-to-day lives.

Outside of her editorial work, she has put her strong financial principles into practice, buying her own home in her early 30s, maintaining an excellent credit score, and steering clear of credit card debt. She holds a B.A. from Webster University.

Andrea Basse

Senior Editor, Contributors

Andrea Basse holds a B.S. in Public Relations from the University of Florida. She's produced content for multiple financial services companies over the last few years — including Goldman Sachs and Discover — to help their consumers make smart financial decisions.

Andrea lives in South Florida with her husband and two precocious daughters. She enjoys trying new recipes and is always down for a game of Trivial Pursuit.

A few words to describe my investing style:

Let it be

A few words to describe my budgeting style:

Everything in moderation

Biggest financial lesson I've learned:

It's never too late to regain control of your finances and enjoy a less stressful life

Amanda Machado

Editor

With a B.A. in Language and Literary Studies from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Amanda started her career as a translator and quickly became a content creator in the fields of language, travel, real estate, and business for companies such as Cirque du Soleil and Cris Brooks Realty.

You are likely to find Amanda at a cozy coffee shop working on her laptop or reading while Milo (her adorable golden retriever) sits by her side like a good boy.

A few words to describe my investing style:

Set and forget

A few words to describe my budgeting style:

Balance is key

Biggest financial lesson I've learned:

You can either ruin or build up your finances; it's ultimately up to you

Calista Headrick

Editor

Calista Headrick earned an M.S. in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, and she has a passion for helping and informing readers through the written word in ways that will positively impact their daily lives. She loves to travel, especially on a budget, and always takes advantage of the best travel deals she can find.

A few words to describe my investing style:

Automatic, passive, long-term

A few words to describe my budgeting style:

Save for essentials

Biggest financial lesson I've learned:

It's not about how much you make but how you save and spend it

Josh Koebert

Senior Data Journalist

Josh is an experienced data journalist whose work has been featured on CNN, The New York Times, CNBC, Bloomberg, and many more publications. Josh is also a frequent guest commentator on TV and radio programs. He loves to explore how personal finance shapes daily life, examining everything from consumer price trends and insurance costs, to retirement habits, real estate, and travel.

Josh lives in Tampa, Florida, with his wife and two children. His free time is spent building Lego sets, relaxing at the beach, and exploring one of the many different theme parks his family has annual passes for.

A few words to describe my investing style:

Diversify, diversify, diversify

A few words to describe my budgeting style:

Wants vs. needs

Biggest financial lesson I've learned:

Make saving and contributing to investments an automatic part of your financial routine

See all of our writers >

Our founders

Greg Van Horn

Founder & CEO

Greg Van Horn is the CEO and co-founder of Launch Potato, the parent company that owns FinanceBuzz, and a technology entrepreneur.

Led by his struggle to find easy-to-understand information when buying his first house, Greg had a vision for a digital media company with a portfolio of trustworthy brands to support readers at every stage of their financial journeys. He co-founded Launch Potato in 2014.

Launch Potato has scaled over a dozen brands, including FinanceBuzz (launched in 2018), AllAboutCookies, and OnlyInYourState. It has been recognized as an Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Company five times, among other accolades. Greg seeks to help consumers find the products and answers they need through performance marketing and high-quality content, with a focus on profitability, sustainability, growth, and team culture.

Christine Yaged

Founder & Chief Experience Officer

Christine Yaged is the Chief Experience Officer and co-founder of Launch Potato and its content brands, including FinanceBuzz.

A passionate traveler and credit card rewards enthusiast, Christine is motivated to help make travel more accessible and rewarding and to empower millions towards financial confidence. She holds a B.S.B.A. in Business Management from Bucknell University.

As CXO, Christine fosters an award-winning, global remote work culture. She oversees both team experience, from culture to communications, and external experience, from branding to customer engagement. Under her leadership, Launch Potato has been recognized as an Inc. Fast-Growing Company, Inc. Best Workplace, and a Fortune Best Workplace.

A few words to describe my investing style:

Thoughtful, confident, steady

A few words to describe my budgeting style:

Strict with 2x/year splurges

Biggest financial lesson I've learned:

Focus on career growth and earning vs. always being frugal

Ryan Van Horn

Founder & Chief Technology Officer

Ryan Van Horn is the Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Launch Potato and its content brands, including FinanceBuzz.

Ryan has spent his career at the intersection of technology, digital marketing, and finance — building the systems and teams behind some of the fastest-growing digital media brands in the space. He has a rare ability to see both the big picture and the technical details, which has allowed him to architect platforms that scale to serve millions of consumers while staying ahead of an industry that never stops moving.

As CTO, Ryan sets the technology vision for Launch Potato and leads the engineering organization responsible for the infrastructure powering FinanceBuzz and the company's broader portfolio. His approach combines deep technical fluency with a sharp instinct for where markets and consumer behavior are headed.

A few words to describe my investing style:

90% boring, 10% yolo
90% of my portfolio is managed and diversified — set it and forget it. The other 10% is self-directed in a tax-deferred SEP IRA where I take big, concentrated swings. One stock at a time, high conviction, high risk, high reward.

A few words to describe my budgeting style:

Future self approved
I ask myself: will my future self be proud of this decision? I put just enough away so that my future self and my current self get an equal amount of comfort. Neither one should have to sacrifice for the other.

Biggest financial lesson I've learned:

Discipline is everything. Track and categorize every dollar in and out, graph it by month, and do it for your whole life. Never let debt become unmanageable. Build credit and use it responsibly. Never miss a payment — no matter what. And don't fear debt — loans and leverage are powerful tools for building wealth when you're disciplined enough to manage them.

When Greg Van Horn, Christine Yaged, and Ryan Van Horn created Launch Potato, the parent company of FinanceBuzz, they wanted to build a technology-first digital media company with a portfolio of brands that could appeal to all types of readers — no matter where they were in their financial journey.

In 2016, two years after Launch Potato's founding, they committed to building FinanceBuzz into a trusted brand and resource that would span across personal finance topics. Greg was motivated to make a difference when he was buying his first house and couldn't find easily digestible information to guide him. Christine loved credit card points and travel and wanted to help others take advantage of credit card reward points. Ryan was inspired by what he'd learned about investing in different markets and real estate and thought resources should be free and more accessible.

Together, they've built FinanceBuzz into a team of inspiring, ambitious humans who want to help others on their journey toward financial independence.

Get in touch with us

For general inquiries, contact:

help@financebuzz.com

For press inquiries, write to us at:

press@financebuzz.com

You can view our most recent press here.

For sales and partnership inquiries, contact:

sales@financebuzz.com

If you prefer snail mail, our address is:

111 E. Atlantic Ave., Suite 200
Delray Beach, FL 33444

Or call our Toll-free number at (888) 478-1688

Interested in working at FinanceBuzz? See our current openings.

About FinanceBuzz

Unlock your financial potential

Quick facts about us

Editorial leadership team

Editorial guidelines

Our editors and writers

Our founders

Get in touch with us