Informed Choice Radio Personal Finance Podcast

In this episode, we're talking about invisible illnesses and why it's important to talk about your health, especially with your financial adviser. There's also a roundup of the latest personal finance news, and some news of a big new appointment at Informed Choice.

"The market has failed, we need more government intervention" - that's the mantra politicians, the media and intellectuals have constantly been reiterating ever since the outbreak of the 2008 financial crisis. My guest on the podcast today is Dr Rainer Zitelmann. He's the author of more than 20 books, including the Wealth Elite, which we discussed on Informed Choice Radio back in episode 370 last November. He was previously a senior editor at Die Welt newspaper. In his new book, The Power of Capitalism, he takes readers on a journey across continents and through recent history, disproving this call for greater government intervention and demonstrating that capitalism matters more than ever. Rainer provides compelling evidence from across the world that capitalism has been the solution to many massive problems. He compares developments in West and East Germany, North and South Korea, capitalist Chile v. Socialist Venezuela, and analyses the extraordinary economic rise of China. For many people, "capitalism" is a dirty word. Rainer provides a timely reminder of capitalism's power is enabling growth and prosperity and is alleviating poverty. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Rainer is passionate about this subject, and we touch on the dangers of Jeremy Corbyn within this interview, which depending on your political persuasion you may or may not agree with. Here's my conversation with Rainer Zitelmann in episode 406 of Informed Choice Radio.

In this episode, there's an update on the key economic and personal finance points in this week's Spring Statement; I have a short rant about Brexit and the latest occurrences; and we hear from our correspondent Kitty with a short interview designed to get you clued up for ISA season.

What does it take to live a successful retirement? My guest today is Justin King; a Chartered Financial Planner, Certified Financial Planner and SOLLA Accredited Later Life Adviser. From his Financial Planning practice in Dorset, Justin works with retired couples to ensure they are living their best possible life. He's host of the fantastic Retirement Cafe Podcast, where he speaks to experts and clients about successful retirement planning. In this episode, I ask Justin about the worries and concerns people tend to have when they enter retirement, what makes money such an emotional subject, and how to have better conversations about personal financial planning. Here's Justin King in episode 404 of Informed Choice Radio, discussing successful retirement planning.

In this episode, I'm sharing 5 signs that your investment portfolio is in great shape. As we move ever closer to an uncertain Brexit outcome, positioning your portfolio for success is more important than ever. We've also got two special reports from our correspondent Kitty, discussing National Apprenticeship Week and how pensioners of tomorrow are underestimating the cost of their retirement, facing a significant shortfall as a result.

My guest on the podcast today is Jonathan Davis, one of the UK’s leading authors and commentators on stock market investment. He's the author of several books: Money Makers, Investing With Anthony Bolton and Templeton’s Way with Money and editor/co-publisher with Harriman House of several others. A former columnist on the Independent and the Financial Times, he is a regular contributor to The Spectator and Money Week and recently launched his own newsletter The Investment Reader. Jonathan is a qualified member of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments and an investment trust non-executive director. Jonathan's latest book is The Investment Trusts Handbook 2019, described as a must-have compendium which provides investors of all kinds with a wide range of insights into how to invest in investment trusts – often referred to as the City’s best-kept secret. With 25 articles by more than a dozen different authors, including analysts, fund managers and investment writers, and edited by independent financial author and expert Jonathan Davis, the handbook is an indispensable companion for anyone looking to invest in the investment trusts arena. Contributors to the book include Peter Spiller, John Baron, Robin Angus, Alex Wright, Charles Cade, Max King and many more. Here's my conversation with Jonathan Davis, editor of The Investment Trusts Handbook 2019, in episode 402 of Informed Choice Radio.

Parents everywhere want their children to be happy and do well. Yet how parents seek to achieve this ambition varies enormously. For instance, American and Chinese parents are increasingly authoritative and authoritarian, whereas Scandinavian parents tend to be more permissive. Why? My guest today is Matthias Doepke, author of Love, Money, and Parenting. In his book, Matthias investigates how economic forces and growing inequality shape how parents raise their children. From medieval times to the present, and from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Sweden to China and Japan, Matthias Doepke and Fabrizio Zilibotti look at how economic incentives and constraints—such as money, knowledge, and time—influence parenting practices and what is considered good parenting in different countries. Matthias is professor of economics at Northwestern University. I spoke to him from Barcelona, where he's currently spending a year on research. Here's my conversation with Matthias Doepke, author of Love, Money, and Parenting, in episode 401 of Informed Choice Radio.

Today on the podcast, I was going to bring you a big name guest interview...but that fell through. I thought I might ask past guests of the show to record their favourite money making or money saving tips...but I ran out of time to arrange it. I was even thinking about hosting a live show in front of a small audience...but let's save that for episode 500. But then I received a voicemail from listener David Withington. Here it is. So rather than interview a big name guest, collate a load of expert tips, or broadcast a live episode, I'm going to use David's voicemail as the basis for this episode, talking about how we find our guests and come up with questions to ask them; how we stay on top of the topical issues of the day, how I'm going to celebrate the publication of episode 400, the guests I would most like to interview, my simple solutions to Brexit, and which stock I think is going to be the next Apple or Google. So listen on for all of that.

Kidnap for ransom is a lucrative but tricky business. Millions of people live, travel, and work in areas with significant kidnap risks, yet kidnaps of foreign workers, local VIPs, and tourists are surprisingly rare and the vast majority of abductions are peacefully resolved - often for remarkably low ransoms. In fact, the market for hostages is so well ordered that the crime is insurable. This is a puzzle: ransoming a hostage is the world's most precarious trade. What would be the "right" price for your loved one - and can you avoid putting others at risk by paying it? What prevents criminals from maltreating hostages? How do you (safely) pay a ransom? And why would kidnappers release a potential future witness after receiving their money? My guest on the podcast today is Anja Shortland, author of Kidnap: Inside the Ransom Business. Anja is a Reader in Political Economy at King's College London. She's worked as an academic economist at Leicester and Brunel Universities, rising to fame for her work on the economics of Somali piracy. She now studies private governance in the world's trickiest markets: hostages, fine art, and antiquities - and how people live, trade, and invest in complex and hostile territories. Her book, Kidnap: Inside the Ransom Business, uncovers how a group of insurers at Lloyd's of London have solved a series of thorny problems for their customers. Based on interviews with industry insiders (from both sides), as well as hostage stakeholders, it uncovers an intricate and powerful private governance system ordering transactions between the legal and the criminal economies. Here's my conversation with Anja Shortland, author of Kidnap, in episode 399 of Informed Choice Radio.

We're getting romantic in this episode. After all, it was Valentine's Day this week. I've found three new money and romance related studies to share, along with a few of my thoughts on the subject. In this episode, I talk about how dating frequency is maintained in retirement, the cost of first dates, and the toll of romance scams. There's also a roundup of the latest personal finance news.