Trying to get a handle on your finances? Not sure where to invest your hard-earned savings? If you don’t feel like you can afford a financial adviser, there are plenty of excellent podcasts you can enjoy – making your commute more useful.
With household debt at record highs and economic uncertainty making financial decisions harder than ever, free expert advice in your earbuds has never been more valuable.
Table of Contents
1. Stacking Benjamins
As a former financial planner, Joe, the host, has a long list of people he has helped get out of debt or build great wealth. As a working-class hero, those goals might seem out of reach – but after just a few episodes, you will realize that by taking consistent baby steps, you can take control of your life too.
Best for: Real personal finance success stories with practical advice.
2. Budget Nerds (by You Need a Budget)
The original YNAB podcast has evolved into Budget Nerds, hosted by personal finance experts Ben and Ernie. They share budgeting tips, strategies, and lessons learned from using the YNAB system, with a focus on helping listeners stop the debt cycle and make every dollar count.
Best for: Practical budgeting advice and motivation.
3. Entrepreneur On Fire
This podcast for budding entrepreneurs runs regularly with host John Lee Dumas. Every episode features a successful entrepreneur who has been through the inevitable failures that create the necessary “aha!” moment. At the end of each episode is a lightning round of takeaway messages that can be applied to any venture.
Best for: Entrepreneurs on the path to success.
4. Money With Farnoosh Torabi
Farnoosh Torabi has a way of not only making finances interesting, but making all of her guests interesting as well. She focuses on specific topics for each episode – from saving for a baby to navigating a career change. If you have a specific financial topic in mind, you will likely find it covered here.
Best for: Specific topics and financial advice.
5. BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast
If you are into real estate investing, this is your go-to podcast. Now hosted by Dave Meyer, Head of Real Estate at BiggerPockets, the show publishes new episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, covering tried and true tactics and candid conversations with real estate investors building wealth today.
Best for: Real estate investing.
6. The Ramsey Show
Dave Ramsey is well known in the personal finance world, and his show remains one of the most listened-to in the genre. It sticks to the basics of getting out of debt and saving money, featuring advice, listener call-ins, and special guests. Note that some of Ramsey’s advice – particularly his stance against credit cards and investing before debt payoff – is debated by financial experts, so it is worth combining with other perspectives.
Best for: General practical financial advice.
7. Like a Mother with Emma Johnson
Emma Johnson’s direct, and often blunt, advice can be hard to swallow but is always on the mark. She moves past surface-level topics to ask hard questions about balancing work, family life, relationships, money, and career. The show publishes every two months and has accumulated over 200 episodes.
Best for: Single mothers who want it all.
8. Marketplace
If you crave up-to-date financial news, Marketplace offers daily coverage of major finance and business topics – from stock market news to housing and credit reports. The host regularly brings in experts and wraps things up in Marketplace Weekend.
Best for: Major finance and business news.
9. Planet Money
It can be frustrating to be caught in financial storms without understanding the bigger picture. Planet Money focuses on the global story of money and financial systems – explaining not just what is happening, but why. Fascinating stories bring abstract economic theories to life in an entertaining and accessible way.
Best for: The big picture.
Final Thoughts
The nine podcasts above cover every corner of personal finance – from Dave Ramsey’s no-nonsense debt payoff approach to Planet Money’s big-picture economic storytelling. If you are new to managing money, start with Stacking Benjamins or Budget Nerds. If you are ready to invest, BiggerPockets is the natural next step. The format does not matter as much as the habit – even one episode a week, consistently, will sharpen the financial instincts that most people never develop.
April 05, 2016