The Kiplinger Readers' Choice Awards 2024

About the Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards
As personal finance experts at Kiplinger, we often review products and services based on fees, interest rates, rewards, online tools and other concrete factors that we can evaluate from the outside. Using that information, we pass along recommendations to our readers, sharing our beliefs on which providers stand above the rest. But as readers, you have valuable insights, too. Customers who use credit cards, banks, brokers, insurance companies and other financial entities have everyday experiences that we can’t replicate when we make our judgments, and we want to tap your expertise. With that in mind, we are presenting the Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards 2024.

The survey was open from February 20 to March 15, 2024, and is now closed. The results will be announced later this year when you can see if your favorites made the cut.

We asked readers to rate several financial products and services based on such criteria as their experience with customer service representatives, how likely they are to recommend the providers to others and how satisfied they are overall with the companies or services.

Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards 2024 Categories

Rewards Credit Cards

Rewards credit cards offer cash back, points or miles on purchases, helping you to put extra cash in your pocket or offset the cost of flights, hotels and other travel bookings. 

We asked readers to rate their experience with the rewards credit card that they use the most in each of four categories: general travel cards, airline program cards, hotel program cards and cash back cards. We also asked about how readers felt about their rewards card’s customer service, how likely they are to recommend the card to others, and their overall satisfaction with the card.

Banks

Whether you have a relationship with a large, brick-and-mortar bank or an internet bank, we’d like to know about your experience with the institution that you primarily use for your banking needs, including a checking or savings account. We asked readers to rate their institution on the strength of its customer service, how likely they are to recommend the bank to others, and their overall satisfaction with the bank.

Brokers

We asked readers about their experience with their primary brokerage firm, including the strength of its customer service, how likely they are to recommend the broker to others, and their overall satisfaction with the broker.

Wealth Managers

 Wealth-management firms provide holistic financial planning and advisory services, including retirement, tax and estate planning and investment management. We asked how you feel about the quality of the financial advice that your wealth manager offers, the level of trust you have in the wealth manager to treat you fairly and provide sound advice, how likely you are to recommend the wealth manager to others, and your overall satisfaction with the wealth manager.

Peer-to-Peer Payment Services

Peer-to-peer payment services allow you to send and receive payments with other individuals. We asked readers to rate the ease of use of these services, how likely they are to recommend them to others, and their overall satisfaction with them.

Tax Software

Tax software helps you prepare and file income tax returns. We asked readers who have used tax software to prepare their returns, to rate the provider on the ease of use of its program, how likely they are to recommend it to others, and their overall satisfaction with it.

Insurance Companies

For primary auto and home insurance companies, we wanted to learn about readers' feelings on the competitiveness of the rates they charge, their experience with the claims process, and how likely they are to recommend the insurance company to others.

Donor Advised Funds

We wanted to understand more about readers' experience with donor-advised funds, the range of investment options they offer and their overall satisfaction with these providers.