Personal Finance Podcasts You Should Be Listening To
Podcasts have become a phenomenon in pop culture, and the podcast niche of financial literacy also shares in that success. The United States podcast audience is the largest in the world, according to the subscription-based market research company eMarketer, which forecast in 2021 that the U.S. market would grow to 125 million within the year. Per its data, Generation Z and late millennials comprised the most growth among podcast listeners. As for personal finance and economics, there are hundreds to choose from.
Whether you're trying to figure out if a (401)k or Roth IRA is right for you or suss out what age you should really start saving for retirement, there's a lot of expert advice to be found on top-rated finance podcasts. There are financial podcasts that zero in on particular niches and/or target groups, so you're bound to find one that speaks to you and your specific situation. Our shortlist of some of the best you should be listening to is a diverse portfolio of podcast experts with advice on building generational wealth as well as financial literacy, including hosts who attempt to balance out disparities related to age, gender, and race.
The Ramsey Show
The Ramsey Show has to be included in this list even if it's for no other reason than Dave Ramsey's popularity. Ramsey's views on topics like how much money you should have in your savings account to warnings about the one type of credit card you should avoid have earned him a wide audience.
WCCS Radio is just one of the over 600 radio stations delivering Ramsey's nationally syndicated program to 14 million listeners per week. Ramsey is credited with authoring seven bestsellers, and he was awarded Broadcasting Hall of Fame and National Radio Hall of Fame honors in 2013 and 2015, respectively. Further, his debt assistance program, Financial Peace University, has had over 5 million registrants. Ramsey is even a presence in academia with 16,000 colleges and high schools offering courses based on his advice.
Moneybox related the story of Andrew Elder, a Dave Ramsey convert who paid off his $176,000 mortgage in five years while also erasing $55,000 in debt, and credits Ramsey's program for making it happen. Yet, detractors under 40 believe some of Ramsey's theories — like acquiring a mortgage you can pay off with a 15-year fixed rate and a 10% down payment — are unrealistic due to rising inflation and college debt. Money Digest has talked about some of Dave Ramsey's worst financial advice, but that doesn't mean it's all bad. Give his personal finance podcast a listen and decide for yourself if Ramsey's financial advice is for you.
Girls That Invest
A Ramsey Solutions study found that while Gen Z and millennials are at a disadvantage when it comes to building wealth, they're also at an advantage when it comes to financial literacy. Although 88% of adults in the U.S. say they were ill-prepared by their high school to handle money — only 25 states require a personal financial course to graduate high school — 30% of Gen Z are most likely to have taken a course in financial management, with millennials coming in second at 20%. Taking a gendered approach, Fidelity reports that 71% of Gen Z and 63% of millennial women invested in 2023, with 60% to 68% of that cohort either investing in the stock market or saving for retirement. That's where the podcast Girls That Invest comes in.
Per Forbes, Simran Kaur launched the Girls That Invest podcast during the 2020 lockdowns. Her certificate course in investing helped her change $8,000 into $1.3 million and a new house by 2021. Noting the lack of women in the financial podcast space, Kaur started the GTI podcast to help other young women gain confidence and learn the ins and outs of investing. Along with the successful podcast, Kaur has also written a bestselling book of the same GTI name and created a six-week course on how to invest in the stock market.
Brown Ambition Podcast
In the U.S., a Latinx household owns just 20% of the wealth of a white American household. That averages out to $48,720 for a Latinx family compared to $250,400 for a white family. Many of these disparities are impacted by language barriers, citizenship, employment prospects, living situation, and geography. According to NEA Today from the National Education Association, discriminatory land and home ownership policies bolstered by racist banking practices (practices that intentionally restricted loans and investment for Black families and businesses) have led to lower generational wealth and financial literacy for African Americans. Although Black wealth is currently on the rise with the median wealth for Black households jumping from about $27,970 to $44,800, the wealth gap remains.
Founded by the first Black woman to get the cover of Money Magazine, Tiffany Aliche, aka The Budgetnista, and co-host Mando Woodruff, the Brown Ambition Podcast focuses on helping women of color succeed financially. As per an interview in Morningstar, Aliche was a decade into a career as a preschool teacher in a Newark, New Jersey, nonprofit before budgetary constraints caused by the Great Recession closed the school she worked at in 2009. From signing up 2,500 women to an online challenge, Aliche has since gone on to write two bestsellers, and of course, launch the podcast that has currently become a $50 million-plus brand. While building a multimillion-dollar brand is hard, here's some advice on the easiest way to get rich.
Marriage Kids and Money
Anyone with a family can tell you how much it costs to have a baby in the United States. Fertility and prenatal care can hit you in the wallet even before a baby is born. Assuming you're not invested in home birth with a doula — who will also cost you money by the way — the ambulance ride to the hospital, with insurance, can average $450 up to $1,000, and it only gets more expensive from there. Workism is a belief that income generated by career goals conflicts with marriage and children; this perception has helped to lower birth rates in wealthier nations. According to a National Debt Relief survey of 2,000 Americans, and conducted by OnePoll, 54% of respondents saw a partner's debt as a reason to divorce, which could explain why some partners choose financial infidelity over the truth about their financial situation. We've listed 13 warning signs of financial infidelity.
The personal finance podcast Marriage Kids and Money addresses financial challenges specific to married couples with kids, through advice on everything from achieving financial independence for your family to building generational wealth. The podcast host and creator Andy Hill was a corporate event marketer in Michigan who became obsessed with the idea of family financial independence. Hill launched the podcast and blog in 2016 to share everything he'd been researching with an eager public. The podcast has since gone on to garner features in major media outlets due to its growing popularity, spurred on by insights from financial experts and the Hill family's successful financial journey. If you're married with kids, this podcast is for you.
The Retirement Answer Man
Since we've already gone through all the financial life stages, we'll end on a podcast geared toward people close to retirement. According to an AARP survey, four out of 10 people aged 50 years and older claimed to have a financial adviser for retirement planning, while three in 10 planned to in the next five years. Of those people who didn't, 30% pointed to being unable to afford an adviser as the reason.
This is where The Retirement Answer Man, aka Roger Whitney, comes in. Whitney is a 25-year veteran financial planner whose podcast has garnered 8 million downloads from over 475 episodes. His copyrighted retirement strategy, Agile Retirement Management, meets his audience where they are and bases their retirement planning on whatever goals they see for themselves. As a three-time Plutus Award winner — an excellence award given to content creators and influencers in the realm of financial advice — Whitney has also been recognized by Inc. Magazine and by Investopedia, the latter naming him a top 100 adviser for six consecutive years between 2016 and 2021.
Whitney's Rock Retirement Club, meanwhile, is a weekend retirement planning seminar hosted every autumn in a hotel conference room. The space becomes ground zero for his podcast audience to get advice in person from Whitney and his team of handpicked financial experts. While The Retirement Answer Man has your retirement planning covered, we have some thoughts on the cheapest states in the U.S. to retire, if you're interested.