I listen to podcasts daily. As someone who is a lifelong learner, I get a ton of value from listening to educational podcasts. Some of my favorite podcasts type of podcasts to listen to are ones that speak on economic issues,business creation, and of course, personal finance!
In addition to being a personal finance addict, I am somewhat of a podcast addict, too. I listen to podcasts on my daily commute, while I am pumping iron at the gym, or at home via my Google Home speaker.
If you are looking to improve your financial life, then I highly recommend you listen to some of the podcasts mentioned below. Listening to these podcast will challenge your limiting beliefs and increase your knowledge. Let’s get started with one of my favorite subjects, economics, and work our way to personal finance.
This podcast is one of my favorites because it always includes a unique perspective on what I think are fascinating topics such as:
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Money (But Were Afraid to Ask)
- Why Is My Life So Hard?
- Why Is the Live-Event Ticket Market So Screwed Up?
I also love how the host, Stephen J. Dubner, provides arguments for and against an idea by inviting guests on the show who hold different beliefs. After guests shares their ideas on a subject, Dubner sometimes analyzes the pros and cons of their arguments. To me, this is important, because while we may not agree with everyone, it is always good to hear an alternative point of view.
In my opinion, studying arguments for and against a particular idea makes us more well-rounded individuals. Plus, we can better attack our opponents arguments if we clearly understand them. Something Suze Orman failed to do recently on the Afford Anything podcast.
If you are interested in learning how businesses were created, you definitely should subscribe to this one. It could even inspire you to create your own business!
Listening to Tariq Farid tell his story about how he created Edible Arrangements was the inspiration for my article The Dark Side of Greatness.
Some of my favorite episodes are:
- Edible Arrangements: Tyriq Farad
- FUBU: Daymond John
- Cathy Hughes on Radio One
At the end of every episode, Guy Raz, usually asks his guest this thought-provoking question, “How much of your success do you attribute to luck, or just hard work?”
If you are looking for a personal finance podcast that features interviews from people with diverse backgrounds, Journey to Launch is perfect for you! I mentioned this fact in my Millennial Money guest post.
It has been exciting to watch Jamilia Soufrant grow her audience. She has gotten a lot of well-deserved media coverage lately; her story has been covered in Essence, Business Insider, and many other major outlets.
Her passion for personal finance is undeniable; she is very charismatic and does a good job of asking great questions. The last episode I listened to was the one with Chris Hogan (I missed his FinCon speech) but I plan on getting caught up soon.
Here are some of my favorite episodes:
- Build Extraordinary Wealth & Become a Millionaire w/Chris Hogan
- Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence with Vicki Robin
- Sylvia’s Journey to Paying Off 6 Figures of Law School Debt & Becoming Financially Independent
One fairly new podcast that I have really been enjoying lately is the Fire Below Zero (Now the FI Show). Although TJ from Half Life Theory just stepped down due to personal reasons, I expect Cody from Fly to FI and Justin from Saving Sherpa to continue producing highly engaging, actionable content.
After listening to the the Low-Hanging Fruits of FI episode, I remembered that it was time for me to negotiate with my internet provider. The year before I let Billshark do the negotiations for me. They were successful in lowering the bill but charged a fee of 30% of the money they saved me for the year.
Since I did not really like having that 30% fee taken out, I decided to negotiate myself this year. To make a long story short, the person I was chatting with ended up calling me the wrong name (Thanks, Rovin!) after negotiations fell through.
The next day I called back and asked how the cancellation process worked. After telling the support rep I would call back next week to cancel, suddenly a new discount became available that no one (I spoke with four reps) mentioned the day before. I was able to get my internet bill lowered by $30 a month by switching to a lower speed.
Here are some of my favorite episodes so far:
- The Low-Hanging Fruits of FI
- Overcoming Adversity: Jillian from Montana Money Adventures
- From Poverty to Privilege: TJ Backstory
Looking for some inspiration to keep you going on your financial journey? Stop what you are doing right now and check out Paula Pant’s Afford Anything podcast. I love her mantra, “You can afford anything but not everything.”
It is a powerful reminder to spend more money on the things you value the most and to spend as little as possible on the things you do not care for. For example, I don’t really like shopping for clothes but I love to spend money on travel (No Vacations? No Thanks, Dave Ramsey!).
For you, it might be the other way around. But that is a personal preference. As long as you are spending less than you earn, that’s all that matters. Who cares what your favorite blogger thinks of your purchase?
In addition to speaking about general finance topics, Paula Pant spends entire shows covering real estate investing. While I am not ready to invest in real estate, I her wealth of knowledge about that area is impressive.
Here are some of my favorite episodes:
- How to Create an Authentic Life
- The Gap Between Knowing and Doing – With Dr. Stephen Wendel from Morning Star
- How to Spend Less, Earn More and Grow the Gap
To my knowledge, the Everyday Money Show, is the first podcast episode to be co-hosted by a hound named Randy. My friend Jason is the main host but Randy steals the show. Jason does a good job of asking his interviewees questions.
I love the segment where he gets their opinion on a few articles in the blogosphere (paw picked by Randy). On one of his earlier episodes he had Jason from Winning Personal Finance on and they discussed my debate with Janet that was featured on Rockstar Finance. The topic was: Should You Live Your Dream Life Now or Later?
I argued in favor of the latter, but I really believe you should do a little of both. It is important to pause for a minute and consider the fact that the life you are living might be just a dream for someone else.
Here are some of my favorite episodes:
- Save Money AND Enjoy Life, You Can do Both!
- How to Win Big With Travel Hacking
- Take Control: Don’t Let the Past Define Your Future
I have saved the best for last. ChooseFI, in my opinion, is the best personal finance podcast. Brad and Jonathan do such an amazing job of bringing the Financial Independence community together. Every episode contains actionable, thought-provoking content.
I have called into the show to leave voicemails a couple times. Once to discuss resources to library offers and another time to discuss my HSA Travel Hacking Strategy. As a kid growing up in the ghetto, my mom took me to the library almost every day. There I fell in love with books.
After listening to Dominick Q talk about drifting, I read the book he mentioned Outwitting the Devil; it was a fascinating and thought-provoking read. I cannot wait to read his book Design Your Future.
While at FinCon, I got a chance to meet Jonathan and actually went to dinner with some of the Facebook group’s moderators. We had an interesting discussion and they revealed to me a hack for listening to more podcasts in a shorter period of time. The simple but effective trick is to speed the podcast up. Ever since then, I have been listening to my podcasts on 1.5-2x speed.
Here are some of my favorite episodes:
- Autonomy Mastery Purpose
- Mindset of FI
- Ryan Carson: Learn to Code Treehouse
One more thing I love about ChooseFI is when guests enter the hot seat. We will end our discussion there.
At the end of every ChooseFI podcast episode, guests have to enter the “hot seat” where they have to answer a series of questions. I’ve often wondered how I would respond to each question, so for fun, I decided to write my answers below.
What’s your favorite blog that’s not your own?
My favorite blog that’s not my own is DiverseFi. Doc G writes publishes thought-provoking material on a daily basis! Check out his article Should Financial Independence Be a Target?
What’s your favorite article of all time?
Wow, this is such a tough question. One of my favorite articles of all time is Half Life Theory’s guest post on ESI Money’s blog titled The One Thing FI Can’t Give You is the Only Thing You Really Want.
What’s your favorite life hack?
My favorite life hack is using my local library system. As a bibliophile, I can save money on books! In addition to that I have access to Treehouse courses, research databases, movies, and more. As a taxpayer, you pay to support your local library system. Why not take advantage of the resources it offers?
What’s your biggest financial mistake?
My biggest financial mistake was purchasing a brand new 2012 Nissan Altima. If I could reverse time, I would buy a used car instead.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I would tell myself not to be afraid to put myself out there. After I graduated in 2009, I spent a lot of time sulking because I did not have a lot of experience and companies would not hire me. My time could have been spent on creating something of my own, like J from Millennial Boss.
What purchase over the last 12 months has brought the most value towards your life?
Believe it or not, my Google Home has brought me the most value over the last 12 months. I bought it because I needed wanted a speaker to listen to music, turn on/off my lights, and tell me the secret to financial independence☺.
You Might Also Like
