About Real Cost Report

What This Site Does — and Why It Exists

Most cost-related content on the internet is written to rank, not to inform. It hedges every figure, avoids naming real numbers, and sends readers away more confused than when they arrived. Real Cost Report exists to fix that.

We publish verified, source-cited data on the decisions that cost American adults the most: hiring an attorney, choosing a Medicare plan, refinancing a mortgage, forming an LLC, or comparing insurance policies. Every article names real dollar amounts, attributes figures to primary government or institutional sources, and shows the math behind the range.

We target one reader: an educated adult who is actively making a high-stakes decision and needs honest numbers — not affiliate-driven rankings, not vague “it depends” answers, and not content padded to hit a word count.

Who Writes and Edits This Site

Dai Luong Ngo — Financial Editor & Publisher

Dai Luong Ngo researches, writes, and edits all content published on Real Cost Report. His editorial focus is cost transparency in high-stakes consumer decisions — legal fees, insurance premiums, mortgage rates, healthcare costs, and small business expenses. He verifies every figure against named primary sources before publication and does not rely on secondary aggregators or undated statistics.

He is also the founder and editor of Finluxy, an independent publication covering the financial realities of affluent households through data-driven cost analysis and original research.

He can be reached directly at [email protected] or through our Contact page.

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dailuongngo

How We Research and Verify Data

Every cost figure, rate, or percentage published on this site is traced to a named primary source — a government agency, a regulatory body, or an institution with a verifiable public dataset. We do not cite secondary summaries when the original data is publicly accessible.

Primary sources we rely on include:

• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) — cms.gov
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) — consumerfinance.gov
• Federal Reserve Statistical Releases (H.15, G.19, FRED) — federalreserve.gov
• Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS)
• National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) — naic.org
• Internal Revenue Service publications by number — irs.gov
• Kaiser Family Foundation health policy data — kff.org
• American Bar Association — americanbar.org
• U.S. Small Business Administration — sba.gov
• Bureau of Labor Statistics — bls.gov
• NOLO — nolo.com (attorney fee surveys and state probate cost data)
• National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys — naela.org

For a full explanation of how individual articles were researched, each article includes a dedicated Methodology section specifying which sources were consulted, the time period covered, and which figures are modeled versus directly measured. For our site-level research standards, see our Methodology page.

Editorial Independence and Monetization

Real Cost Report is monetized through Google AdSense display advertising. Advertisers do not influence, commission, or review editorial content. No article is written to promote a vendor. No ranking is paid for. Brand names appear in articles solely when they are necessary to illustrate a cost comparison or provide a concrete example — never as a condition of inclusion.

We do not accept sponsored posts, paid placements, or affiliate commissions. If that policy changes, it will be disclosed in the relevant article and on this page.

Our editorial decisions are governed by one standard: does this article give a reader enough verified, specific information to make a better decision? If the answer is no, it does not publish.

Coverage Areas

Real Cost Report covers eight high-stakes consumer decision categories:

Corrections and Updates

Financial data changes. Rates move. Laws are amended. When a figure we have published becomes outdated or incorrect, we correct it — with a visible update note showing the date of the revision and what changed. We do not silently edit articles. If you spot an error or an outdated figure, email [email protected] with the article URL and the source you believe reflects the current data. Every correction request is reviewed against primary sources.

Legal and Privacy

For full disclosure on how this site collects and uses data, how advertising operates, and the terms governing your use of this site, see the following pages:

• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use
• Editorial Policy
• Methodology