Cited & Contested · Free printable
The claim-checking checklist
For testing one statement about money in about five minutes. Works on a paragraph in a bestseller, a headline, a video, or something a confident relative said at dinner. Use it on a single claim, not a whole book.
Before you look anything up
- Write the claim in one sentence. If you cannot state it in one sentence, you do not yet know what is being claimed.
- Decide what kind of claim it is. A definition, a number, a rule, a prediction, or a story. Each is checked differently.
- Ask what would make it false. If nothing could, it is a slogan rather than a finding.
- Notice who benefits if you believe it. Not proof of anything. A reason to be careful which direction you look first.
While you look it up
- Find the original, not the repetition. Follow it back until you reach a document. If the trail stops at a person, it is an Author’s Claim.
- Check the date on the source. A number that was correct is not the same as a number that is correct.
- Check the country. Ideas travel. Tax, accounts, benefits and protections do not.
- Look for one strong disagreement. Search for the best argument against, not the worst.
- Ask who was measured. Ask whether you are one of them before applying the result to yourself.
Before you act on it
- Separate the arithmetic from the behaviour. Most money arguments are about what a person does in a bad month.
- Give it a tag and write the reason. Established, Contested, or Author’s Claim, plus one line saying why.
- Write down what would change your mind. In writing, before you are attached to the answer.
The claim I am checking
My tag: Established / Contested / Author’s Claim
Because:
What would change my mind:
The three tags. Established: checked against the public record and several independent, reputable sources agree. Contested: publicly disputed, both sides shown. Author’s Claim: the book asserts it and it could not be independently verified.
Free to print, copy and hand out with attribution. From citedandcontested.com. Educational commentary only, not financial advice. This sheet tells you how well a statement is supported. It does not tell you what to do with your money.