Informed Choice Radio Personal Finance Podcast

My guests today are two leaders of the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement, and they've written a bold, contrarian guide to retiring at any age. Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung are world travelling early retirees. Their story has been featured in media outlets all over the world, including the New York Times, CBC, CNBC, the Independent. They now spend their time helping people with their finances and realizing their travel dreams. In their book, Kristy and Bryce cover how to cut down on spending without decreasing your quality of life, build a million-dollar portfolio, fortify your investments to survive bear markets and black-swan events, and use the 4 percent rule and the Yield Shield–so you can quit the rat race forever. Here's my conversation with Kristy Shen & Bryce Leung, authors of Quit Like a Millionaire, in episode 427 of Informed Choice Radio.

It's been a busy week for the financial press, but for all of the wrong reasons. Neil Woodford's £3.7bn fund flagship Equity Income fund suspended trading following high levels of withdrawals and liquidity concerns. In this episode, I'm seeking to make sense of what happened to Neil Woodford, unpicking some of the key lessons from this big investment story.

My guest on the podcast today is Glen Goodman. His goal was to retire young and wealthy, escaping the daily grind. He taught himself how to trade everything from shares to Bitcoin and made enough money to realise his dream and quit his day job while still in his 30s. In his new book, The Crypto Trader, Glen shows readers how he made huge profits trading Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and more. Glen publicly called the top of the Bitcoin market in December 2017 and took his profits before the crash. But he believes there are still plenty of trading opportunities out there and he continues to trade crypto successfully. He's not a fly by night bitcoin trader, but a successful equity investor. In fact, Glen was an ITV news reporter who traded the markets for extra cash - until one day he realised he was a successful trader who did TV reporting for extra cash. As he talks about in this interview, he famously turned a £3,000 trade into £100,000 by betting there would be a financial crash in 2008, what he calls his little short. He's now regularly interviewed by the media including the BBC, Forbes and LBC, and is a contributing expert on cryptocurrency at the London School of Economics. Here's my conversation with Glen Goodman, author of The Crypto Trader, in episode 425 of Informed Choice Radio.

In this episode, I'm talking about the impact of fairly dire retail conditions on the High Street, and what this could mean for commercial property investors. I also look at the consequences of 'fake news' on our financial decision making, and whether social media networks could do more to address the spread of dangerous misinformation.

When it comes to investing, it pays to think differently from the rest of the crowd. Contrarian thinking is something we've explored on Informed Choice Radio before, and we're back at it today in conversation with Alasdair McKinnon, manager of the Scottish Investment Trust. Alasdair is a self-confessed stock market geek, developing a passion for investing in his teens and working in the sector since his first role in 1998. He graduated with an MA in Economic and Social History from the University of Edinburgh, and MSc in Investment Analysis (with distinction) from the University of Stirling. He's also a CFA® charterholder and an Associate of the UK Society of Investment Professionals. Alasdair joined the Scottish Investment Trust in 2003 and became Manager in 2015. The investment trust, which is managed from Edinburgh, runs a relatively small portfolio of around 50 stocks. It's got large stakes in some familiar British names, like GlaxoSmithKline, Tesco and Royal Dutch Shell, but its modus operandi is investing in unloved companies, and then waiting for these stocks to return to favour. I enjoyed this interview with Alasdair and want you to listen out for three big things. Firstly, he talks about how investment cycles repeat themselves; there's nothing truly new when it comes to investing money. Secondly, Alasdair explains why investing with index tracker funds means buying overvalued companies. He further illustrates the risks associated with this passive investing approach when he talks about the changing fortunes of Japan over the years. Finally, Alasdair shares the three factors he looks for when buying an out of favour stock. Here's my conversation with Alasdair McKinnon, manager of the Scottish Investment Trust, in episode 423 of Informed Choice Radio.

It’s official – women are better with money than men. Researchers who carried out a detailed study found the female of the species to be more financially responsible than their male counterparts. According to the report, women are more likely to know exactly how much money they have in their current and savings accounts. In this episode, why the fairer sex is better at managing money than us blokes. We also hear from our correspondent Kitty, who speaks with Kevin Mountford, CEO of Raisin, about how young people are finding it harder than ever to save money, with dwindling disposable income and an inability to make use of savings accounts hitting their trust in the big banks.

Start young, start early. That's the mantra of Financial Planning, But what if you leave it later in life before starting to save for retirement or another financial objective? Is it too late to get started? In this episode, I'm talking about what to do if you're a bit late off the starting blocks. I cover the impact of money into your investments, versus investment growth and the power of compound returns, what one genius referred to as the eighth wonder of the world.

My guest today is Bobbi Rebell, an award-winning TV anchor and personal finance columnist at Thomson Reuters In hew new book, How to Be a Financial Grownup, Bobbi taps into her exclusive network of business leaders to share with you stories of the financial lessons they learned early in their lives that helped them become successful. She then uses these stories as jumping off points to offer specific, actionable advice on how you can become a financial grownup just like them. Her book walks you through some of the biggest money decisions you'll make regarding real estate, investing, debt management, careers, friends and money, family finances, and even health and wellness. You're guided by proven examples and given the information you need to make choices that are right for you. Here's my conversation with Bobbi Rebell, becoming a financial grownup, in episode 420 of Informed Choice Radio.

It's not fair. The financial gulf between young and old in society has reached epic proportions. While retirees are sitting on vast amounts of property wealth, enjoying their gold-plated final salary pensions, and getting off lightly with low taxation, the younger generations can't afford to buy a home, or smashed avocado on toast. That is of course an over simplification of the situation. But there does appear to be a great deal of inter generational unfairness in UK society today. And that's what a new report from the House of Lords seeks to tackle. I take a look at the key recommendations in this episode of the podcast.

Neuroscientists estimate that over 90 percent of our operating systems - our beliefs, behaviors, patterns - are unconscious. Since the surface story determines less than 10 percent of our decisions, how can we illuminate the shadow story responsible for over 90 percent of what we do each day? Once we systematically understand our relationship with money, can we overcome the mind and brain's resistance to change? Especially when so many of the current popular strategies for change are contrary to the way the mind and brain work? My guest on Informed Choice Radio today is David Krueger, MD. He's an Executive Mentor Coach, and CEO of MentorPath, an executive coaching, training, publishing, and wellness firm. His work integrates psychology and neuroscience with strategic coaching to help executives and professionals write the next chapter of their life or business stories. His new book is Your New Money Story, where he writes about how each money story line contains unspoken assumptions, emotional agendas, and unconscious meanings. The book combines twenty-five years of psychiatric and psychoanalytic practice and over a dozen years of professional and executive mentor coaching with groundbreaking research in psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral economics. Here's David Krueger MD, in episode 418 of Informed Choice Radio, with Your Money Story.