Gail MarksJarvis is one of the nation's most respected financial journalists and an award-winning author of a best-selling investing book for regular people. Her Chicago Tribune columns have reached millions of readers in leading metropolitan newspapers throughout the U.S.
 
In 2023, she received one of the highest honors in financial journalism, the Distinguished Achievement Award by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW).

She also has been named "Best Financial Columnist" by Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, and has received 17 other journalism awards for her work, including a National Clarion Award for human rights reporting.
 
Gail delivers advice on personal finance, investing, business and financial markets in speeches and on television and radio. She has been a reporter for National Public Radio's "Marketplace," and regularly provided analysis on WGN and WTTW TV in Chicago and PBS's Nightly Business Report. Additionally, she has appeared on "Talk of the Nation," "Sound Money,"PBS News Hour, CNBC, FOX Business, CBS This Morning, Morningstar.com and ABC, NBC, and CBS affiliates. Prior to starting her personal finance columns, she spent a decade covering business, won the nation's top award for airline reporting, and wrote for publications ranging from USA Today to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
 
During years as a personal finance columnist, Gail heard from thousands of distressed readers about their investing mistakes.
 
"It was tragic," she said. "They were trying to do what was right, but were undermining their hard-earned savings. The mistakes were almost universal -- repeated by young and old, rich and poor, male and female, highly educated and less educated. Even experienced business people and multi-millionaires were calling me for help."
 
As a result, she wrote her book, "Saving for Retirement Without Living Like a Pauper or Winning the Lottery," so anyone could get fire-power out of their savings without laboring over their investments. She simplified practices used by professionals into a step-by-step guide that anyone can handle - "even people phobic about math," she says.
 
The book became a best-seller and received the "Excellence in Financial Literacy Education Award's Book of the Year" honors.
 
"It's a cover-to-cover must-read for everyone 16 to 60 who wants to live the American Dream," says Dallas Salisbury, CEO, of the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a respected, nonpartisan think tank.
 
She has served on the University of Minnesota School of Journalism Advisory Board, organized a mentoring program for aspiring journalists, and was a long-time governor on the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing board of governors, a national organization that promotes high journalistic standards.
 
See Gail's reflections on her career and thoughts about enhancing the quality of journalism in this "Media Movers" interview with "Talking Business News."