Informed Choice Radio Personal Finance Podcast

Richard Branson once said: “No goal is beyond our reach and even the impossible can become possible for those with vision and belief in themselves.” In his third guest appearance on Informed Choice Radio, I chat with Dr Rainer Zitelman about his new book, Dare to Be Different and Grow Rich: The Secrets of Self-Made People. In the book, Rainer unpicks the lives of 50 extraordinarily successful women and men. Most of the subjects in his book are entrepreneurs, but he also studies top managers, athletes, entertainers and others, all to discover what makes them stand out and the lessons we can all learn. Rainer concludes that what really sets these highly successful and rich individuals apart is their courage to be different from the majority of those around them. They challenge traditional ways of thinking and they set their goals and ambitions considerably higher than most people. Their stories serve as powerful guidelines for anyone who wants to aim higher and achieve much more than those around you. Here’s my conversation with Dr Rainer Zitelman, author of Dare to Be Different and Grow Rich, in episode 479 of Informed Choice Radio.

It’s fair to say that money matters are the cause of stress and anxiety of a great many people. When you don’t fully understand the decisions you need to make, or where to go for help making those important decision, it’s no surprise that anxiety ensues. My guest today is Harry Stout, a senior leader in the global financial services business. He’s got 25 years of expertise in the US and globally, with experience in all key business areas. Harry’s new book is called The FinancialVerse; it presents a straightforward, easy to read explanation of what you can expect to experience at each stage of your financial life. The book is made up of the knowledge, decisions, resources, risks, and tools you are likely to encounter during your financial journey. In this conversation, with talk about those different stages, what Harry refers to as the adulting, striving and fulfilling stages of life. Here’s my conversation with Harry Stout, author of The FinancialVerse, in episode 478 of Informed Choice Radio.

How’s your financial literacy? As a listener to Informed Choice Radio, I’m guessing it’s pretty good! Certainly better than average! But, for most people, a lack of financial literacy is a serious challenge. After all, money can be complicated! My guest on the podcast today is Tina Hay, founder of Napkin Finance. Tina explains that two-thirds of Americans can’t pass a basic financial literacy test. Nine in ten believe that personal finance should become a required subject in school. When she attended Harvard Business School, Tina struggled to keep up with her classmates when it came to understanding jargon and numbers-heavy concepts. As a result, she developed a visual learning strategy using sketches and infographics, which helped her succeed in her studies and master even the most complex financial topics. Tina went on to create Napkin Finance, a thriving company built around the concept of taking seemingly overwhelming topics – including budgeting, investments and retirement planning – and turning them into simple, skimmable explanations. Her new book, also called Napkin Finance, includes dozens of individual learning modules, covering everything from credit scores to paying off student loans, to economics and blockchain. Here’s my conversation with Tina Hay, author of Napkin Finance, in episode 477 of Informed Choice Radio.

What are the habits you need to adopt so you can build and retain sustainable wealth? In this episode of the podcast, I’m joined by Nigel Cumberland, international bestselling author of 100 Things Successful People Do. In this new book, 100 Things Millionaires Do, Nigel turns his attention to wealth. The book distills all of the wisdom and knowledge of a lifetime of starting and selling businesses, and coaching hundreds of wealthy leaders, into 100 short chapters of advice on building and retaining sustainable wealth. Nigel explains this isn’t a get rich quick book. Instead, it’s about the habits, tools, techniques and mentality of self-made millionaires. The book mixes simple instructions with activities to get you started, with mindsets, habits, and techniques to help you get the results you want. Nigel is a leading executive coach and leadership facilitator, having spent the past decade successfully coaching a range of local and expatriate leaders through a range of challenging transitions. This work built on 25 years of global corporate experience in Asia, Europe and South America, where Nigel held Finance Director and Managing Director roles with a range of multinationals. In this conversation, we cover the main ways to get wealthy, why you need to think beyond £1m, and the role of drive and ambition. Here’s my conversation with Nigel Cumberland, author of 100 Things Millionaires Do, in episode 476 of Informed Choice Radio.

Are you trapped in a financial prison camp of your own making? My guest on the podcast today didn't realise he was part of the wider FIRE movement until a chance encounter with the work of Mr Money Mustache. In this episode, I talk to Barney Whiter AKA The Escape Artist about the career crisis which served as his catalyst to create a freedom fund. We also cover why everything flows from motivation, how debt is a form of slavery, and the best way to convince a significant other to join you on the path to financial freedom. Here’s my conversation with Barney Whiter, The Escape Artist, in episode 475 of Informed Choice Radio.

Financial independence is a super power. Whether we know it or not, we're all on a stage of a money journey; anything from financially solvent to financially independent. My guest on the podcast today is Ken Okoroafor, founder of The Humble Penny. Ken describes himself as a millennial, migrant and minority - but he warns of the danger of listening to a single story. His journey to financial independence, as he recounts in this conversation, involved a decade of surviving, before a decade of thriving. Along the way, his relentless focus on personal development allowed him to achieve his goal of financial independence by his mid-30s. Here's my conversation with Ken Okoroafor of The Humble Penny, in episode 473 of Informed Choice Radio.

You might not plan to retire. Increasingly these days, retirement is delayed because we can’t afford it, or we don’t want to give up work; after all, work gives us a powerful sense of identity, an excuse for social interaction, and is scientifically proven to help reduce disease and death. Why on earth would you want to retire, given the choice?! But saving enough money to cover your expenses in later life is essential, even if you have no plans to give up work. Coming up in this episode of Informed Choice Radio, this is why you need to fund your retirement.

How can we best educate our children to equip them for success when it comes to their money? My guest today is J. J. Wenrich, a Certified Financial Planner and 20-year veteran of the investment world. He developed his fascination with the stock market as a child, watching business reports on PBS, one of the few stations available in his small-town Kansas home. During freezing winters and blazing summers, he was inside learning about what he calls "the amazing world of stocks." Despite his small-town upbringing, J.J. had progressive teachers along the way who included personal finance education and stock-picking games in their curriculum. His professors at The University of Kansas reinforced his love of the stock market. So much that he spent spring break on campus watching CNBC all night with stock charts and spreadsheets as he followed equity markets around the world. In his book, Teaching Kids to Buy Stocks, J.J. will walk you through how he encouraged his three kids to save birthday and allowance money, then use a portion to buy stocks. You will learn the same lessons he taught his kids at home, and thousands of financial professionals at work. Here's my conversation with J. J. Wenrich, author of Teaching Kids to Buy Stocks, in episode 471 of Informed Choice Radio.

Universal Basic Income. If you’ve not come across the term before, you’re likely to hear a lot more about it in the future. It’s an economic policy that’s gathering support across a wide part of the political spectrum, as a solution to a variety of challenges. And now shadow chancellor John McDonnell appears to be backing it too, urging the Labour party to formalise this support in their election manifesto. In this episode of Informed Choice Radio, why basic income is a Labour policy Martin can support, and what it could mean for your Financial Planning.

If you're thinking about starting a business, it's likely that writing a business plan and then borrowing money will be two factors putting you off. My guest today runs workshops which show budding entrepreneurs how to get started in business without lengthy business plans or potentially ruinous loans from the bank. Alan Donegan is co-founder of PopUp Business School. When he set up his business 12 years ago, he went along to government funded Business Link, who did more to scare him off starting than they did help! This negative experience inspired Alan to turn entrepreneurship on its head. He developed PopUp Business School to support the people who are saved off by business plans, debt and traditional planning. PopUp Business School runs inspirational training courses designed to help people start small businesses and make money doing what they love. In this episode, we chat about the importance of selling your value before you create it, why it's possible to make money doing what you love, and Alan's experience with the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement. Here's my conversation with Alan Donegan from PopUp Business School in episode 469 of Informed Choice Radio.