// The Insider List

Sources Smart People Use

Sources Smart People Use is the toolkit the rest of us were never handed — the verified, mostly-free sites that researchers, investors, journalists, and sharp shoppers quietly rely on. No paywalls of secrecy, just better information.

💹 Money & Economy 📰 News & World 🔬 Research 🛒 Deals & Value 🧰 Power Tools 💼 Work & Pay 🏛️ Gov Leverage

💹 Money & the Economy

Read the Real Numbers

The primary sources behind every money headline — straight from the people who publish the data.

FREDfred.stlouisfed.orgThe Federal Reserve’s free trove of 800,000+ economic charts — inflation, rates, jobs. Where the pros get their data.Open → SEC EDGARsec.gov/edgarEvery public company’s real financial filings, free. Read the numbers instead of headlines about them.Open → BLSbls.govThe official source for inflation, wages, and employment data — straight from the government.Open → BEAbea.govThe official GDP and personal-income figures behind the economic headlines.Open → USAspendingusaspending.govTrack exactly where federal tax dollars go — by agency, contract, and recipient.Open → Investor.govinvestor.govThe SEC’s free, no-hype investing education — plus a tool to check if an advisor is licensed.Open → FINRA BrokerCheckbrokercheck.finra.orgLook up any broker or firm’s record and complaints before you hand over a dollar.Open → TreasuryDirecttreasurydirect.govBuy I-bonds and Treasury bills straight from the government, with no broker fees.Open → CFPB Complaintsconsumerfinance.govSearch real complaints filed against banks and lenders before you sign up with one.Open →

📰 News & the World

See the Whole Picture

Go past the spin: original sources, bias comparison, and researcher-grade data on the world.

Ground Newsground.newsSee how left, center, and right cover the same story — plus a feed of what one side is ignoring.Open → AP Newsapnews.comThe wire service other outlets republish. Read the source before the spin gets added.Open → Reutersreuters.comThe other global wire — fast, plain, and widely syndicated reporting.Open → Our World in Dataourworldindata.orgClean, sourced charts on nearly every global trend — health, energy, poverty, conflict.Open → AllSidesallsides.comSide-by-side left/center/right coverage with transparent media-bias ratings.Open → Pew Researchpewresearch.orgRigorous, free social and demographic research with no paywall.Open → Gapmindergapminder.orgFact-based tools that fix your mental picture of how the world is actually changing.Open → ReliefWebreliefweb.intThe UN’s humanitarian feed for real-time information on world crises.Open →

🔬 Research & Learning

Get Past the Paywalls (Legally)

The same research, textbooks, and tools academics use — free and aboveboard.

Unpaywallunpaywall.orgA free browser add-on that finds the legal, author-posted free copy of a paywalled paper.Open → Google Scholarscholar.google.comSearch academic papers directly; pair with Unpaywall to actually read them.Open → arXivarxiv.orgWhere physics, math, and AI research drops first — free, often before journals.Open → PubMedpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govThe medical-research database doctors actually use, free to search.Open → DOAJdoaj.orgA directory of thousands of fully free, peer-reviewed open-access journals.Open → Semantic Scholarsemanticscholar.orgAI-powered search that surfaces a paper’s key findings and how it’s been cited.Open → Connected Papersconnectedpapers.comVisual maps of how research papers relate — get up to speed on a field fast.Open → OpenStaxopenstax.orgFree, peer-reviewed college textbooks from Rice University.Open → Project Gutenberggutenberg.org70,000+ free public-domain books to read or download.Open →

🛒 Deals & True Value

Know What Anything Is Really Worth

Stop guessing. These show real prices, real history, and real market value.

CamelCamelCamelcamelcamelcamel.comFree Amazon price history and drop alerts — spot a fake discount instantly.Open → Keepakeepa.comThe power-user Amazon price tracker, with detailed hourly history charts.Open → eBay Sold Listingsebay.com → filter “Sold”Filter any search to “Sold” to see what things actually sell for, not asking prices.Open → PriceChartingpricecharting.comReal market values for video games, trading cards, and collectibles.Open → Kitcokitco.comLive gold and silver spot prices, so you’re never lowballed on metal or jewelry.Open → SlickDealsslickdeals.netA community that vets deals and flags the fakes before you buy.Open → AnnualCreditReportannualcreditreport.comThe only truly free, official source for all three of your credit reports.Open → MissingMoneymissingmoney.comOfficial unclaimed-money search across state treasuries. Never pay a finder.Open →

🧰 Everyday Power Tools

Quietly Superhuman Utilities

Small tools with outsized leverage — most people have never heard of them.

Wolfram Alphawolframalpha.comA computational engine that actually answers math, money, and data questions.Open → Wayback Machineweb.archive.orgRead deleted pages, vanished articles, and old versions of any website.Open → TinEyetineye.comReverse image search to spot fake profiles, scams, and stolen photos.Open → What3Wordswhat3words.comPinpoint any 3-meter spot on earth with three words — great for meetups and emergencies.Open → DeepLdeepl.comTranslations that read far more naturally than the usual tools.Open → Have I Been Pwnedhaveibeenpwned.comCheck free whether your email or passwords leaked in a known breach.Open → DownDetectordowndetector.comFind out instantly whether a site is down for everyone or just you.Open →

💼 Work, Jobs & Pay

Where the Quiet Hiring Happens

Less-crowded job boards and the real pay data to negotiate from.

Wellfoundwellfound.comStartups hiring directly — many skip degree and location requirements.Open → Remote OKremoteok.comDaily-updated remote roles in tech, design, and operations.Open → We Work Remotelyweworkremotely.comOne of the oldest and biggest remote job boards — many hire globally.Open → Levels.fyilevels.fyiReal, crowd-sourced tech salary data so you negotiate from facts, not hope.Open → USAJOBSusajobs.govEvery federal job, free to apply, with benefits private roles rarely match.Open → Occupational Outlookbls.gov/oohOfficial pay and demand data for almost every job in America.Open →

🏛️ Government Leverage

Free Tools Hiding in Plain Sight

Your tax dollars already built these. Almost nobody uses them.

Benefits.govbenefits.govAnswer a few questions and get a personalized list of programs you may qualify for.Open → Grants.govgrants.govEvery federal grant, searchable in one place.Open → Challenge.govchallenge.govOpen government prize competitions with real cash that anyone can enter.Open → Regulations.govregulations.govRead proposed federal rules before they’re law — and file a public comment.Open → Congress.govcongress.govTrack bills, votes, and what your representatives are actually doing.Open → CourtListenercourtlistener.comFree court opinions and records that usually sit behind PACER fees.Open → FOIA.govfoia.govFile a federal public-records request yourself, free.Open →

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