Alene Laney Expertise: Mortgage, Credit, Real Estate, Personal Finance Title: Personal finance writer Education: University of Utah Location: Provo, Utah Highlights Award-winning freelance journalist since 2016Real estate investor since 2004Credit expert Experience Alene Laney has been writing about personal finance topics for online and print publications since 2016. Alene has spent more than a decade as a real estate investor, learning the ins and outs of finding, funding, and selling properties. She's used her extensive experience to provide articles for Inside Real Estate and Rocket Mortgage. Alene has substantial experience writing about credit cards, rewards travel, and personal finance for high-profile sites such as Credit.com, SmarterTravel MoneyGeek, Yahoo Finance, and GOBankingRates. Education B.A. in English literature and history 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.