Deborah Fowles Expertise: Financial Planning Education: Brigham Young University, University of Maryland Highlights Former guest author for The BalanceSpecialized in financial planning and budgeting guidesAuthored two books: The Everything Personal Finance In Your 20's and 30's and 1001 Best Smart Money Secrets For Students Experience Deborah Fowles was a financial planning and budgeting expert for Dotdash, who spent over a decade contributing her expertise.She was a graduate of Brigham Young University where she received a B.S. in youth leadership, and she later went on to pursue a degree in business management with an emphasis on accounting from the University of Maryland. In addition to publishing two books–The Everything Personal Finance In Your 20's and 30's and 1001 Best Smart Money Secrets For Students–she wrote poetry and in 1997 won the Poetry Guild's Award for outstanding poetry composition. Education Deborah received her B.S. in youth leadership from Brigham Young University. She later received a degree in business management with an emphasis on accounting from the University of Maryland. 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.