Yates focuses her expertise on financial literacy and educating the public on personal finance and budget models. As a leading financial expert, she is well versed in topics of inherent racial bias on financial decisions, such as reverse mortgages.

She authored “Behavioral Determinants of Mortgage Defaults,” which identified borrowers who are more like to default based on various socioeconomic measurements. Current research under Yates includes analyzing the success of financial education, as well as how consumers gain knowledge.