Best Finance Podcasts

Personal finance can sometimes be a complicated and confusing topic, particularly if you’re still learning the ropes of money management. Having an expert you can turn to for advice and guidance can make things like making your first budget, creating a get out of debt plan, saving for retirement, or buying a home easier to navigate. While a financial planner can help with all those things, you’ll pay a fee for their services.

Listening to podcasts is a more convenient—and less costly—way to tap into expert knowledge. Finance podcasts can help you get clear on your money goals and create a plan for achieving them, all from the comfort of your home, car, or even the treadmill at the gym. With hundreds of thousands of podcasts to choose from, you might be wondering which are the best. If you’re looking for some new finance podcasts to tune into, consider adding these eight picks to your playlist. 

Best for Finance Beginners: So Money

So Money
Courtesy of iTunes 

Hosted by leading personal finance expert Farnoosh Torabi, "So Money" has been rated as the top female-hosted podcast by Entrepreneur magazine and it’s also the 2016 winner of the top financial podcast award from the Plutus Foundation.

During her weekly chats with entrepreneurial movers and shakers, finance authors, and influencers, Torabi covers all the basics of money management. You can learn about everything from paying off credit cards to handling finances jointly as a couple to launching and growing a business. It’s a comprehensive take on money, with no financial stone left unturned.

The podcast format is casual, yet candid, with stories and examples that are drawn from real-life experiences of Torabi and her guests. Of all the finance podcasts around, "So Money" proves to be a solid choice for millennials or anyone else who’s just getting started on their personal finance journey.

Best for Getting Out of Debt: The Dave Ramsey Show

The Dave Ramsey Show
Courtesy of iTunes

Radio personality and finance expert Dave Ramsey is best known for his “baby steps” approach to personal finance, which involves moving through a specific set of steps in a particular order to achieve financial security and wellness. One of those steps is paying off debt using the snowball method, a concept that can be applied to student loans, credit cards, car loans, personal loans, mortgages, or any other type of debt you might have.

Like the "Dave Ramsey" radio show, the podcast offers straightforward, no-fluff advice on how to eliminate debt systematically and quickly so you can move on to other financial goals, such as planning for retirement. If you’ve been struggling to gain traction with paying off debt or you just don’t know what to do first, Ramsey can help you create an actionable plan for getting ahead and chipping away at the balances.

You’ll also be inspired and motivated by the stories Ramsey's listeners share as they’ve worked towards debt freedom.

Best for Students and New Grads: The College Investor

The College Investor
Courtesy of iTunes

Trying to master personal finance while working towards a degree or navigating the job market can be challenging to say the least. You may be learning how to pay bills for the first time or getting introduced to credit and credit scores, without understanding how those things affect you financially. "The College Investor" podcast aims to make the financial part of the equation easier by addressing the issues that matter to students and recent grads the most: how to repay student loans, how to avoid overdraft fees, best budgeting tools, and how to dip your toes into investing, among others.

It’s a great podcast for younger adults who want to develop a firm money blueprint they can follow through their 20s and beyond, but older listeners can also learn a new financial trick or two. In addition to those topics, host Robert Farrington (who happens to be a millennial money expert and entrepreneur) talks extensively about side hustles and becoming your own boss in a way that’s relatable and easy to understand, which may be appealing if you’re dreaming of starting your own business after college.

Best for Women: The Fairer Cents

The Fairer Cents
Courtesy of iTunes

When it comes to money, women often face some unique financial challenges. The gender pay gap, for instance, means women earn less than men. Caregiving for children or aging parents can reduce women’s time in the workforce and in turn, their earning and saving potential over the course of a lifetime. Minority women can face even more obstacles in achieving income equality.

"The Fairer Cents" podcast hones in on those types of issues to cast a spotlight on how they can affect the financial well-being of women. If you’re looking for a feminist take on finance that goes deeper than the standard money podcast fare, "Fairer Cents" co-hosts Kara Perez and Tanja Hester deliver plenty of insightful discussions. They’re helped along by their expert guests, which include behavioral scientists and financial gurus who can speak on the financial issues that most impact women.

Best for Beginning Investors: Money for the Rest of Us

Money for the Rest of Us
Courtesy of iTunes

Saving is what you do when you want to put aside money that you think you may need in the near term. Investing is what you do when you want your money to grow over the long term, as you can earn a better rate of return than a savings account can offer. If you’re not an investing pro yet and you don’t know a stock from a bond, you might need some podcast guidance in making sense of the market and where to put your money.

David Stein, a former chief investment strategist, created the "Money for the Rest of Us" podcast for investors who want to carve a path in the market while keeping their risk tolerance and goals in sight. The podcast combines personal stories with academic research to explain key concepts such as portfolio balancing, how market cycles move, and how to invest with small amounts of money. 

Best for Seasoned Investors: The Disciplined Investor

The Disciplined Investor
Courtesy of iTunes

The stock market is unpredictable—just when you think it might zig, it zags instead. If you’ve been investing for some time, you may be looking for a more in-depth, granular analysis of what the market’s doing and where it might be headed next, versus conversations about basic investing topics. "The Disciplined Investor" podcast is designed for experienced investors who already have a feel for the market, but newbies can also tune in for high-level discussions.

Disciplined Investor founder and host Andrew Horowitz chimes in weekly on topics like farmland investing, China and US relations, trading lessons, and financial independence. This is the podcast for you if you want timely, up-to-the-moment insight with a discussion of specific stocks and securities as you make portfolio decisions about where, when, and how much to invest. 

Best for Boosting Your Earning Potential: Smart Passive Income

Smart Passive Income
Courtesy of iTunes 

Pat Flynn is a blogger, influencer, and perhaps most importantly, he’s an experienced entrepreneur who knows the subject of earning an income online inside and out. He successfully built a blogging empire and he’s established himself as a go-to guru for passive income. His biweekly podcast series offers an insider’s view of how to build a business and earn money online so you can leave the rat race behind for good. Whether you’re interested in making money as a blogger, creating passive income through affiliate marketing, improving your email marketing game, or becoming a money-making podcaster yourself, you’ll hear all about it on "Smart Passive Income."

And, it’s not just Flynn’s expertise you’re privy to either. He’s regularly joined by online business leaders who have become influencers across a wide range of niches, such as Gino Wickman, Kristen Bor, and Heather Osgood, who share their best tips for maintaining mental health, developing a podcast advertising strategy, and making a leap into the entrepreneurial world.

Best for Achieving Financial Independence: The Mad Fientist

The Mad Fientist
Courtesy of iTunes

The FIRE movement (financial independence, retire early) is fueled by a desire to enjoy financial freedom sooner, rather than waiting until the traditional retirement age. It’s a topic that’s explored extensively in the "Mad Fientist" blog and podcast. The podcast uses an interview format to pick the brains of some of the best-known FIRE movement forerunners, including personal finance icon Ramit Sethi, "ultralearning" expert Scott Young, and financial writer Morgan Housel. The advice you’ll hear is actionable but also conceptual—the podcast challenges listeners to abandon old ideas about what retirement and financial independence should look like and when it should happen.

Talks revolve around saving and planning for retirement early (of course), but they also extend to things like how to find happiness as you pursue your money goals. It’s worth a listen if you’re interested in figuring out how to unlock your wealth-building potential and level up your lifestyle.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What Is a Finance Podcast?

A finance podcast is an online, radio-like talk-show that focuses on personal finance topics to help individuals make better financial decisions, such as investing money or paying off debt. Money management is considered an “evergreen” topic for podcasts because many people seek financial advice. As such, there are plenty of finance podcast options available to listeners. These podcasts can be accessed through a number of online platforms, such as the Apple Podcasts app or iTunes.

What Types of Finance Podcasts are There?

Finance podcasts are all about money management, though the podcast focuses within that niche vary widely. Some focus on how to get out of debt, invest, boost your overall earning potential, and get acquainted with money as a young or new-to-finance consumer. Others are generalist programs that focus on a single one of these topics each episode. 

Each podcast typically takes on one of a few different formats. These include narrative podcasts where the host teaches listeners, guest-focused podcasts where the host speaks to different guests each week who share their experience or expertise related to the week’s topic, or a combination of both formats. 

What Makes a Good Finance Podcast?

A good finance podcast understands its audience and gives that group what it wants. The best finance podcasts have high-quality production, offer insights from multiple experts rather than a single host, and share important, valuable information in each episode that helps listeners better understand their personal finances. 

When Are Finance Podcasts Helpful?

Finance podcasts are useful whenever they help a listener either make better personal finance decisions or provide insights that are new to the audience. So, the answer to when such a podcast is helpful for you as a listener depends on your personal needs. There are many finance podcasts that are relatively unknown to the masses but have provided plenty of help to the few who have actually listened. Personal finance is a topic where there is plenty to learn all the time. If a podcast can help you navigate that journey, it’s helpful regardless of audience size. 

How Do You Start a Finance Podcast?

Before you start a finance podcast, ensure you have the requisite knowledge or can acquire it through a roster of knowledgeable guests who can guide the audience. Gauge your existing knowledge by writing down all the different topics you want to cover and then deciding if you can provide insight on them or if guests with insight are needed to help your future listeners with each topic.

Then, make sure you have the right equipment to record a high-quality podcast. At a minimum, you’ll need a reliable computer with internet access, a microphone (either a traditional microphone or a headset, earbuds, or built-in computer mics), and recording software. With your podcasting setup in place, start learning how to record and post your podcast.

How We Chose the Best Finance Podcasts

We looked at more than two dozen of the top finance podcasts nationwide and narrowed down the list to our top eight based on the overall production. We considered factors such as the topics of the podcasts, quality of production, host experience, quality of guests, and overall listener reviews.

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Sources
The Balance uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. Entrepreneur. "24 Exceptional Women-Hosted Podcasts for Entrepreneurs in 2017."
  2. Plutus Foundation. "Winners of the 7th Annual Plutus Award."

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