Ben Gran

Ben Gran is a financial writer who thinks like a financial advisor: he believes in empowering people to understand their personal finances and maximize their money. He tries to help people make better choices to get the most from their opportunities, from paying off debt to saving and investing for the future. 

Ben loves to explain complicated financial concepts in a friendly, conversational way – and give people actionable ideas to improve their personal finances. He has a knack for details and a spirit of curiosity, whether it’s learning about credit scores, or discovering something unexpectedly interesting about payment networks, banking regulations, and the back end of the financial system.  

Ben Gran has been a full-time professional writer for most of his working life. Prior to becoming a freelance writer, Ben worked as a regulatory compliance technical writer for a major national bank, a marketing agency account manager, and a speechwriter for the former Governor of Iowa. 

Areas of financial expertise

• Banking

• Credit

• Personal finance

• Loans

• Credit cards

• Budgeting and saving

• Investing

• Retirement planning 

Education

B.A., Rice University 

Title

Financial writer 

You should know

Ben is a passionate world traveler who has lived in Japan (where he worked as an English teacher) and visited 11 countries. Along with his native English, Ben speaks some Spanish and Japanese but wishes he was fluent in all three languages. 

Ben is passionate about financial inclusion, such as how banks are ending overdraft fees, how people can rebuild their credit after financial setbacks, or how to help unbanked and underbanked people get access to fairer, lower-cost financial services.