Alex Gailey

Lead Data Reporter, Personal Finance

6

Years of experience

EXPERTISE

Personal finance
Women's finances
Income and wealth inequality
Investing
Workplace trends
Debt management
Economy

EDUCATION

B.A. in Journalism, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

About the author

As a lead data reporter at Bankrate, Alex Gailey writes about the numbers behind consumer finance and economic trends. When she’s not crunching numbers together for broader money stories, she’s covering the economy from the perspective of financially vulnerable groups, including women, people of color and low-income families. As part of her beat, she analyzes how these groups navigate financial challenges, the workplace, building wealth and other emerging trends related to money. She’s covered consumer finance for five years and before that, she reported on economic development in Atlanta.

Alex has interviewed hundreds of personal finance experts, from certified financial planners and economists to career advisors and financial therapists. She believes in thorough reporting and interviewing experts to have a pulse on consumer finance trends and news. She also spends a lot of her time talking to everyday people to better understand their money experiences.

Before joining Bankrate, Alex worked for NextAdvisor in partnership with TIME Magazine, The Boston Globe, Atlanta Business Chronicle and Charlotte Business Journal. Her work has been cited by the Washington Post, the New York Times, CNBC, Bloomberg, CBS News and more. She’s a member of the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW), Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) and was selected as a Goldschmidt data fellow in 2024.

Alex beyond Bankrate

Alex joins Scripps News to discuss the best and worst states to retire

Fortune interviews Alex about gender gap in lucrative college majors

CNBC interviews Alex about women’s recession fears

Alex joins CBS News to discuss the best cities to launch a career

Alex wants you to know

Alex has found value-based budgeting to be an effective way to empower herself to stay on track and accomplish her financial goals. The beauty of value-based budgeting is the intentionality behind it. By intentionally aligning your saving and spending habits with what you value most, you’ll increase your chances of achieving your financial goals while still enjoying life.