r/personalfinance: rules, karma requirements and posting culture
Reddit's biggest money help desk: text-only questions about debt, retirement, credit and housing, answered from a shared wiki and moderated very tightly.
Personal Finance · Open on Reddit
- Members
- 21.9M
- Created
- 2009
- New posts a day
- 143.4
- Comments on a typical post
- 11
- New posts removed
- 36%
The short answer
r/personalfinance publishes no karma or account age requirement. What it has is a long list of title and topic rules, enforced by AutoModerator and a busy mod team: only about 64% of posts in our sample stayed up, with moderators removing about 22% and AutoModerator holding another 12%. Posts are text, in English, with a descriptive title that leaves out your gender and any dollar amounts. Self-promotion of any kind is banned, including things you do not make money from.
Who posts here
Most posts come from people who say outright that they know little about money: someone who just turned 18, someone who cannot tell why an account shows a zero balance, someone unsure whether to buy a truck before a house. Replies are patient and explain fees, account types and order of operations from scratch. A question pitched low still gets answered, though AutoModerator will often point you to the wiki first, and the wiki's step by step guide is the stock reply.
- Young adults with a first job, a first credit card or a first retirement account.
- People in debt deciding what to pay first: cards, car loans, student loans.
- Mid-career households weighing a house purchase, a mortgage payoff or a retirement contribution change.
- People near retirement asking about withdrawals, benefits and portfolio mix.
- Regular answerers who know the wiki and the tax rules and reply in full paragraphs.
Karma and account requirements
What it takes to get a post through in r/personalfinance.
| Karma | Not stated publicly. About 12% of posts in our sample were held by AutoModerator, and the messages we saw were all about titles, language and crossposts, not karma. |
|---|---|
| Account age | Not stated publicly. |
| Title | Descriptive and specific. Short or vague titles are removed automatically, and titles cannot be edited, so you have to repost.Mods' wording: “your title is too short or vague about the topic or question” |
| No gender or money amounts in the title | Tags like 25F and dollar figures in the title trigger a removal with a request to repost. Both are fine in the body.Mods' wording: “repost without including your gender in the title” |
| Post type | Text. About 95% of posts are text and images, video and polls are switched off. Crossposts from subreddits that are not pre-approved are removed automatically.Mods' wording: “that subreddit is not pre-approved for crossposts” |
| Language and topic | English only, and a personal finance question or discussion. Legal, business, career and relationship questions are sent elsewhere.Mods' wording: “Posts must be a personal finance question or discussion with a descriptive title.” |
What AutoModerator says
The moderators' bot leaves these messages on posts. They are the closest thing to an official statement of the thresholds.
Your submission has been removed because that subreddit is not pre-approved for crossposts. If your crosspost complies with the rules, you may message the moderators for approval. If you first posted on /r/legaladvice or /r/relationships, it's better to make a new post focusing entirely on financial questions.
Here's a link to the PF Wiki for helpful guides and information.
Greetings! Unfortunately, your submission has been removed because we would like you to repost without including your gender in the title. It's fine to mention your gender in your post body. *This rule is applied to all genders.* Thanks.[](#allow_repost)
Please repost following these instructions: - If this is a success story or windfall question (including questions about applying excess income), please post in the weekday/weekend thread near the top of /r/personalfinance (every day except for some Thursdays). - If this about another topic, please repost without mentioning amounts of money or terms like "large amount" in your title. Include specifics in the post body. Also be sure to read the PF wiki for articles such as "How to handle $" and Windfalls.[](#allow_repost)
Your submission has been removed because your title is too short or vague about the topic or question. Unfortunately, titles cannot be edited so please repost with a descriptive title and please make sure you include enough information and specific details in the text after the title so people can respond helpfully. View this image for examples and more information.[](#allow_repost)
What you can post
| Post type | Subreddit setting | Share of recent posts |
|---|---|---|
| Text | Allowed | 95% |
| Link | Allowed | 5% |
| Image | Not allowed | 0% |
| Video | Not allowed | 0% |
| Poll | Not allowed | 0% |
Post flairs in use
- Other 15%
- Retirement 11%
- Investing 11%
- Credit 9%
- Auto 9%
- Budgeting 9%
- Planning 8%
- Debt 8%
- Housing 7%
- Saving 5%
What happens to a new post
Where the most recent posts ended up. Sample size: 400.
- Stayed up64%
- Removed by Reddit's filters2%
- Held by AutoModerator12%
- Removed by moderators22%
- Deleted by the author<1%
Reddit counts a removal by the subreddit's own AutoModerator rules as a moderator removal, so that share is not all human. Held by AutoModerator means the post is waiting in the mod queue.
What happened when we posted here
We have posted here ourselves. This is how our own posts and comments fared.
- Stayed up
- 100%
- Removed by Reddit's filters
- 0%
- Removed by moderators
- 0%
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
The rules, in the mods' words
- 1
Submission guidelines
Posts must be a personal finance question or discussion with a descriptive title. We don't allow: * Polls, surveys, or requests for personal data, experiences, or other types of self-reporting * Success stories or thanks (use weekday/weekend thread) * Several disallowed topics * Meta posts * IAmA/AMA requests or posts * News without a discussion, quote, or summary For more information on the subreddit rules, read the rules wiki.
- 2
Self-promotional advertising or soliciting
We don't allow: * Promotion of web content, products, services, companies, or anything else owned by you (or anyone affiliated with you), even if not monetized * Accounts with promotional profiles or usernames * Offering referral, invite, or affiliate links/codes * Soliciting business/investors, market research, media requests, or recruiting * Repeatedly or prominently stating financial credentials * PM/DM requests or offers Requires pre-approval: open source tools, customer service replies
- 3
Unhelpful or disrespectful
We don't allow: * Circlejerking or karmawhoring * Posting just for upvotes or humor * Insincerity or dishonesty * Trolling, brigading, loaded questions/language, or provoking unproductive conversation * Memes or low-effort content * Clickbait titles * Excessive large, bold, or spaced-out text * Bots or AI-generated content * In-character novelty accounts * Insubstantive/ephemeral posts * Requesting votes * Excessive profanity
- 4
Asking for handouts or transactions
We don't allow asking for handouts or transactions. That includes: * Asking (even indirectly) for gifts, loans, or donations for yourself or on behalf of any organization or person(s) * Any mention of a fundraising campaign even without a link * Requesting a job * Asking for loan cosigners * Soliciting for anyone to engage in any kind of transaction
- 5
Legal or business discussion
We don't allow legal or business discussions. That includes: - Discussions that are predominantly legal issues - Discussions about starting, funding, or running a business, corporation, partnership, etc. - Content better suited for /r/legaladvice, /r/smallbusiness, /r/entrepreneur, or /r/business
- 6
Politicizing
We don't allow: - Moralizing issues - Petitions or calls-to-action - Political discussions - Political baiting - Soapboxing
- 7
Lawbreaking information
We don't allow: * Suggesting another user perform an activity that is illegal, unlawful, or fraudulent in most jurisdictions * Linking to illegal content or lawbreaking information * Asking for advice on any of the above
- 8
Personal attack or abusive language
We don't allow: * Personal attacks * Raw criticism without any constructive feedback * Name-calling, flaming, shaming, or otherwise harassing another poster (or person being helped) * Telling a user to harm themselves or others * Abusive language * Intentionally rude or very harsh language * Suggesting sex work (even indirectly) * Retaliating in response to an affront
- 9
Personal advice discussion
We don't allow personal advice discussions. That includes: * Content better suited for /r/relationships * Recommending a poster end their relationship or start a new relationship * Posts about suicide or violence * Posts asking for advice on how to convince someone else to change their behavior * Relationship drama not essential to a question or discussion * Family planning advice, especially unsolicited or flippant * Career, job, and education questions * Medical advice
- 10
Other bad behavior
* Missing－Disappearing after posting a discussion or posting for another with inadequate information or involvement * Hyping－Pushing speculative, volatile, illiquid, or meme investments, especially flippantly, tersely, or implying huge returns * Rabble rousing－We're not your personal army * Doxing－Posting or seeking personal information, dox attempts or threats * Flooding－Posting excessively frequently * Duplicates－Reposting news or information * Plagiarism－Not giving credit properly
These are the rules as archived in January 2025. Rules change. Check the sidebar before you post.
The culture
r/personalfinance has nearly 22 million members and around 140 posts a day. It works like a help desk. Someone lays out their income, debts and accounts in about 140 words, asks what to do, and gets a handful of careful replies. Almost half of titles are questions and the median post gets about ten comments.
The answers lean on a house view. The wiki has a step by step guide to handling money, pages by age group and pages for windfalls, debt and retirement accounts, and AutoModerator links to them under many posts. Advice is conservative: build an emergency fund, pay off high interest debt, use low cost index funds. Speculative investments get little sympathy, and the rules list hyping them as bad behavior.
Two tensions show up in the comments. The subreddit says it is not tied to one country, but the wiki and most answerers are US focused, and posts from elsewhere are pointed to a regional index and sometimes get a cold reception. The other is suspicion of manufactured posts. The rules ban AI-generated content, and commenters will call a post engagement farming and tell others to report it.
What lands
- A clear either-or decision with the numbers in the body: pay off the loan or make a bigger down payment, keep the old house or sell it.
- A full snapshot. Income, take-home pay, each debt with its interest rate, each account with its balance.
- An honest admission of a mistake, such as trusting an advisor without asking questions, followed by a specific question about what to do next.
- Narrow rules questions about retirement accounts, benefits timing or tax on a house sale.
- First-step questions from young people, which get kind and detailed answers.
What gets removed or ignored
- Titles carrying an age and gender tag or a salary or balance figure. This is the most visible pattern among removed posts in our sample.
- Short, vague titles such as a bare plea for guidance.
- Windfall and success posts, which are sent to the weekday and weekend threads.
- Posts about starting a business, side hustles or how to make money, which the rules treat as business or career topics.
- App and tool announcements, including update posts for something the poster built.
- Posts not in English, and crossposts from subreddits that are not on the approved list.
The unwritten rules
- Put the numbers in the body, not the title. Commenters will ask for monthly expenses, interest rates and balances before they answer.
- Read the wiki's main guide before you ask. Many replies are that guide, restated for your situation.
- Stay in the thread. The rules name disappearing after posting as bad behavior, and people ask follow-up questions.
- Comments run longer than on most subreddits, about 32 words, and under 3% carry a link. Advice is written out, not linked.
- If you are outside the US, say so early and expect to be pointed to your country's subreddit.
- Do not mention your credentials more than once. Repeatedly stating financial credentials is listed under self-promotion.
Self-promotion
The rule is one of the strictest on Reddit. You may not promote web content, products, services or companies owned by you or anyone affiliated with you, even if not monetized. Referral and affiliate links, market research, media requests, recruiting and DM offers are all banned, and so are accounts with promotional profiles or usernames. Open source tools and customer service replies need pre-approval from the moderators. In practice app posts are removed, and the sidebar tells readers to ignore any private message. The only workable approach is to answer questions as an ordinary person with nothing to link to.
How people write here
- Typical post length
- 138 words
- Typical title length
- 7 words
- Titles phrased as a question
- 46%
- Typical comment length
- 32 words
- Comments that include a link
- 3%
- Posts that carry a flair
- 100%
The regulars
The accounts that showed up most in our sample. Worth reading before you post: they set the tone, and they are usually the first to reply.
Most active posters
- u/IncomeLongjumping4014 posts
- u/DemascusBan4 posts
Most active commenters
- u/RabbitHutch3218 comments
- u/SSIRAQ6 comments
- u/Mountain-Elk81335 comments
- u/Important_Carrot63795 comments
- u/DeluxeXL5 comments
Top keywords
The words and phrases that show up far more often here than in other communities, from recent posts in r/personalfinance.
- ira 44 posts
- savings 67 posts
- retirement 49 posts
- debt 56 posts
- roth 37 posts
- credit 70 posts
- loan 45 posts
- money 89 posts
- car 55 posts
- brokerage 29 posts
- roth ira 24 posts
- account 67 posts
- fund 31 posts
- mortgage 32 posts
- interest 42 posts
- financial 43 posts
- invest 31 posts
- expenses 34 posts
- pay 64 posts
- investing 28 posts
- finances 24 posts
- loans 24 posts
- payment 42 posts
- cash 38 posts
- hysa 20 posts
- income 38 posts
- rent 31 posts
- student loans 18 posts
- paying 44 posts
- house 45 posts
- funds 26 posts
- monthly 34 posts
- plan 45 posts
- credit card 27 posts
- job 56 posts
- paid 42 posts
- savings account 14 posts
- tax 31 posts
- saving 24 posts
- brokerage account 11 posts
Recurring topics: saving, debt, car, invest, loan, house, money, looking for, investment, roth.
Growth
- 201251k
- 2013132k
- 20141.9M
- 20154.8M
- 20169.5M
- 201712.6M
- 201813.5M
- 202014.2M
- 202115.2M
- 202318.5M
- 202420.2M
- 202521.5M
- 202621.9M
Related subreddits
- r/AusFinance
- r/singaporefi
- r/MiddleClassFinance
- r/FluentInFinance
- r/fiaustralia
- r/HENRYfinance
- r/Money
- r/PersonalFinanceCanada
- r/whitecoatinvestor
- r/fatFIRE
Common questions
How much karma do you need to post in r/personalfinance?
The moderators do not publish a karma or account age requirement. Posts are filtered heavily on other grounds: in our sample about 22% were removed by moderators and about 12% were held by AutoModerator, mostly over titles, topic, language and crossposts.
Can I promote my app, blog or service in r/personalfinance?
No. The rules ban promoting anything owned by you or anyone affiliated with you, even if it is not monetized, along with referral codes, market research and recruiting. Open source tools need pre-approval from the moderators before you post.
Why was my r/personalfinance post removed?
The most common automatic reasons are a title that is too short or vague, a title that includes your gender or a dollar amount, a post that is not in English, or a crosspost from a subreddit that is not pre-approved. Most of these removals invite you to repost with the problem fixed. Business, legal, career and relationship questions are removed as off topic.
Can I post a screenshot in r/personalfinance?
No. Image, video and poll posts are turned off, and about 95% of posts are plain text. Type the figures into the body of the post instead.
Data as of October 4, 2026. Numbers come from public Reddit data (the Arctic Shift archive and GummySearch) sampled on this date. Removal share counts posts taken down by moderators, AutoModerator or Reddit's own filters. Banner and icon belong to the community. Moderators change rules without notice, so treat the sidebar as the final word.
