Home / Method
How a video gets made
Every Mr. Talero video answers one question about money, and every number in it can be traced to a document you could read yourself.
The steps
- Pick one clear question. “Why did this company fail?” or “What does the Fed's rate do to my mortgage?”, not a prediction.
- Find the original document. News reports and posts are where stories are found. The numbers come from the filing, court record or data release those reports were based on.
- Trace every number. Each figure on screen carries a source tag, and the full source list goes in the video description with links.
- Check the script against the sources before anything is recorded: names, dates, amounts and what the document actually says.
- Correct in public. If something turns out to be wrong, the correction goes in the description and a pinned comment, with the date.
Where the numbers come from
Annual and quarterly reports (10-K, 10-Q), current reports (8-K) and proxy statements from the SEC's EDGAR database; their equivalents for companies outside the U.S.
Bankruptcy petitions, first-day declarations, claims registers and court orders from the case docket. These are where a company explains, under oath, how it got there.
Federal Reserve statements, minutes and data releases; the New York Fed's reference rates; other central banks for stories outside the U.S.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (prices, jobs), the Bureau of Economic Analysis (income, GDP), the Census Bureau (housing, retail) and national statistics offices elsewhere.
Long-running surveys with a published method, such as Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
Earnings calls and investor presentations, used for what a company said, and labeled that way.
What you won't see here
- Paid stock picks, “buy this now” calls or price targets.
- Sponsored opinions. If a video is ever sponsored, it will say so at the start and in the description.
- Fake “breaking news” thumbnails or celebrity faces used as bait.
- Get-rich-quick promises.
How the videos are produced
Mr. Talero is an illustrated character, and the narration is a synthetic voice. Scripts, graphics and edits are made with software tools, including AI tools. What doesn't change is the rule above: every claim is checked against the source document before it goes out.
The numbers on this site
The data desk on the home page and the calculators use the same kind of sources, downloaded directly from the publishing agency each time the site is rebuilt. Last update: Oct 22, 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U (CUUR0000SA0)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey (LNS14000000)
- Freddie Mac, Primary Mortgage Market Survey®
- Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Effective Federal Funds Rate
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, Daily Treasury Par Yield Curve Rates (10-year)
Spotted a mistake? Leave a comment under the video. Corrections are pinned with the date.