Last updated: September 2026

Our Mission

Essential Retirement Guide exists to make retirement planning easier to understand. Retirement accounts, Social Security, taxes, and income planning are often explained in ways that feel overly technical or difficult to navigate. Our goal is to break these topics down into clear, practical guidance that helps everyday readers make more confident decisions about their financial future.

How Our Content Is Created

Our books, articles and planning tools start from primary sources: IRS publications and notices, Social Security Administration rules, Medicare.gov, and reputable financial publications. Every book lists its sources in the back matter.

We use AI tools to help research, draft and produce our content, including written articles and the video content on our YouTube, TikTok and Pinterest channels. AI-generated narration and visuals are labelled as such on each platform. A human editor reviews and approves every piece before it is published, and the publisher is responsible for what appears on this site. “Susan Delaney” is a pen name; see our About page.

We are a growing, independent publisher. We do not currently have a credentialed financial advisor, CPA, or CFP® formally reviewing every article prior to publication, and we do not claim otherwise. We believe it’s more useful to be upfront about this than to imply a level of professional review that isn’t in place. If and when that changes, we’ll update this policy to reflect it.

Editorial Independence

Our content reflects our own research and editorial judgment. We are not paid by any financial institution, retirement account provider, or advisory firm to promote their products or services, and no outside company has editorial control over what we publish.

Our Use of AI Tools

AI tools help with research, first drafts, narration and video visuals. They don’t decide what gets published. A human editor reviews each piece, checks the figures against the primary sources, and approves it before it goes live. The AI-generated videos that use the Susan Delaney name are labelled as AI-generated on each platform.

Accuracy & Corrections

We do our best to keep information accurate and current, including reviewing time-sensitive figures (such as tax thresholds, contribution limits, and RMD rules) as they change each year. Rules and figures referenced in our content reflect our understanding at the time of publication or last update, shown at the top of each article.

If you believe something on this site is inaccurate or out of date, we want to know. Please contact us at publishing@essentialretirementguide.com with the specific page and issue, and we will review and correct it as quickly as possible. Significant corrections will be noted on the relevant page.

Financial Disclaimer & Affiliate Disclosure

For full details on our “no financial advice” policy, how this site earns money, and terms of use, please see our Disclaimer and Terms & Conditions pages.

Contact

Questions about this policy, a correction request, or feedback on any of our content can be sent to publishing@essentialretirementguide.com or through our Contact page.