Rocco Pendola Title: Writer Education: San Francisco State University Location: Los Angeles Expertise: Personal finance, investing Highlights Over 10 years of experience writing on personal financeSpent five years as a full-time editor at Seeking AlphaMoney and investing expert for The Balance Experience Rocco Pendola has written and edited personal finance articles for over 10 years. He spent five years as a full-time editor with Seeking Alpha and was a contributor and director of social media at TheStreet.Rocco talks about money from personal experience using a conversational approach with the goal of making otherwise intimidating topics straightforward and accessible. Obsessed with the academic discipline of economic psychology, Rocco redefines personal finance as "individual finance," looking at how one person's unique context, behaviors, and motivations impact their money decisions. In addition to The Balance, you can find his most recent work at Seeking Alpha and on Medium. As much as he loves exploring the theoretical and practical underpinnings of our relationships with money, Pendola is just as comfortable breaking down the basics of personal finance, investing, and how the broad stock and option markets function. While in a PhD program at the University of California, Irvine, Rocco published peer-reviewed academic articles in the journals Environment and Behavior and Health & Place. Education San Francisco State University, Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies About The Balance The Balance, a Dotdash Meredith brand, makes money easy to understand. We give people tools they need to not only make smart financial decisions but also prepare for the experiences they will have along the way. Our team of expert writers and editors have extensive qualifications in the topics they cover, and many of them have MBAs, PhDs, CFPs, and other advanced degrees and professional certifications. We require our writers to use primary sources in their articles, which are also approved by our Financial Review Board and fact-checked. You can learn more about the standards we follow in producing accurate, unbiased content in our editorial policy.