Sarah Foster

About the author

Reporter and analyst Sarah Foster covers the intersection of personal finance and the U.S. economy for Bankrate, focusing on the affordability and economic opportunity challenges that shape Americans’ financial lives. She helps readers understand how decisions made in Washington, D.C. — from the Federal Reserve to Congress — influence their ability to save, invest, buy homes and reach key economic milestones.

Sarah has covered the Federal Reserve and U.S. economy since 2018, when she joined the economics news team at Bloomberg News. She’s a member of the premiere association for business journalists, the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW), has been selected as a Goldschmidt data fellow in both 2019 and 2020 and was named a Top Voice in Finance by LinkedIn in 2024.

Her reporting centers on identifying the barriers that stand between Americans and financial stability — whether that’s persistent inflation, high borrowing costs, wage stagnation or limited economic mobility. Drawing on a network of more than 100 economists, including academics and former Treasury Department and Federal Reserve officials, she translates complex economic policy into practical insights that empower readers to make informed financial decisions.

Readers turn to Sarah for clarity on inflation, the job market and recession risks — and for answers to what those forces mean for their paychecks, borrowing costs and ability to hit long-term financial goals. She believes the U.S. economy isn’t just data or forecasts. It’s people with livelihoods, careers, dreams and stories.

Before becoming a business journalist, Sarah worked as a copy editor and newspaper designer at the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Daily Herald. When she’s not covering a Fed meeting or exploring her favorite data website, FRED, she enjoys writing music, playing piano, flute and bass, reading every Janet Yellen book she can find and creating economy explainer videos as the Accidental Economist on Instagram and TikTok.

Sarah wants you to know

Foster describes herself as an “accidental economist.” Originally from a town of 300 in rural Illinois, she developed an early interest in economics while watching her community struggle through the Great Recession.

Joblessness soared. Businesses and factories shuttered. Homelessness climbed, food banks were overwhelmed and nearly 1 in 4 families lived below the poverty line — among the highest rates in the state. She later wrote about those challenges for her high school newspaper.

It wasn’t until years later, while reporting on poverty in eastern Kentucky after the 2018 midterm elections, that she realized those early stories were fundamentally about economics — and that she wanted to devote her career to explaining it.

“Economics isn’t as boring as your high school or college teachers might have made it seem,” Foster says. “If you don’t love economics, it might just be because you haven’t realized just how much it shapes your everyday life yet.”