About 43dots
43dots explains US personal finance with numbers you can check: credit scores, credit cards, loans, savings, federal taxes and retirement accounts.
Who writes it
I'm Teja Pagidimarri, and 43dots is a one-person site: I research, write, check and maintain every page. I'm a software developer, not a CPA and not a licensed financial advisor, and I don't pretend to be either.
That background shapes what the site does well. I read the primary documents (IRS Revenue Procedures, CFPB rules, FICO's own documentation, Fannie Mae's Selling Guide, FDIC rate data), redo the arithmetic, and build calculators from the published formulas. It also sets the limit: these guides explain how the rules work and what the numbers are. They don't tell you what to do with your money, because that needs your full situation and a license I don't have.
What you'll find here
- Guides in four sections: credit scores and cards, loans and debt, banking and saving, and taxes and retirement.
- Calculators that run in your browser, show their working, and store nothing.
- Sources on every guide. Each figure links to the document it comes from, and every guide ends with its full source list.
How a page gets made
I start from the primary document, not from other websites. Where a number needs math (an effective tax rate, a payoff schedule, an APR) I compute it and show the inputs so you can redo it. I use AI as a drafting and editing tool: it helps structure and tighten the writing. It is not the source of any fact, figure or rule on the site, and nothing here publishes automatically. I read every page end to end and check each number against its source before it goes live.
Each guide shows when it was published and when it was last updated. When the IRS, a regulator or a scoring company changes a figure, I update the page and its date. The full process is in the editorial policy, and mistakes are logged on the corrections page.
How the site makes money
43dots is free to read. It is meant to be supported by display advertising (Google AdSense). Ads are chosen by the ad network, labelled, and kept separate from the writing; no advertiser can buy a mention or change what a guide says. If I ever add affiliate links, they will be disclosed on the page. See the advertising and affiliate disclosure.
Get in touch
Spotted an error, or want a question answered? Email hello@43dots.com or use the contact page. The privacy policy and terms of use cover the rest.