Informed Choice Radio Personal Finance Podcast

Do you want to live your life well and enjoy financial security while leaving a legacy for family members? My guest on today’s show is Marlene Outrim, author of Cascading Your Wealth, a comprehensive guide to putting your affairs in order and making the right choices now about how to pass on your wealth without compromising your current lifestyle. Marlene is a Certified Financial Planner, Fellow of the CISI, Chartered Wealth Manager and Chartered Financial Planner, as well as holding numerous other professional qualifications and designations. Her new book discusses the practical, emotional and psychological factors that affect intergenerational wealth and explains the six steps to creating a clear and detailed Family Wealth Plan. During this conversation, we chat about Marlene’s two rules for cascading wealth, the right time to start thinking about this planning, and some of the complexities associated with wealth transfer planning for blended families. Here’s my conversation with Marlene Outrim, author of Cascading Your Wealth, in episode 577 of Informed Choice Radio.

Energy bills are soaring and many of us are wondering what, if anything, we can do to ease the burden. My guest today is James Sommerville, Head of Business Development at AgilityEco. AgilityEco is on mission to play a major role in eliminating fuel poverty, to deliver better outcomes for low income and vulnerable families and to prepare Britain’s homes for Net Zero. They have a vision for a warm, efficient and healthy home for everyone. By reducing energy bills through energy efficiency and helping people stay warm and well, they will be able to support the most vulnerable in society. In our conversation today, we talk about some of the government grants available to households who want to reduce their energy use, the steps to consider before installing solar panels, and how we can all address the cost of energy crisis. Here’s my conversation with James Sommerville, Head of Business Development at AgilityEco, in episode 576 of Informed Choice Radio.

The financial services profession is often accused of being male, pale and stale. Things are changing (for the better!) with greater diversity and a younger cohort becoming Financial Planners, bringing with them a valuable perspective and experiences. My guest on the podcast today is Makala Green, the first Black Female Chartered Financial Planner. Makala has an extraordinary track record of success, working her way up from a cashier position age 16. She has transformed lives and businesses, working with entrepreneurs, sportspeople, professionals and multi-million-pound companies. Makala knows how empowering it is to be in control of your finances. She understands how managing your money can change everything for the better. So, Makala has written The Money Edit, her first book, to make great financial planning accessible to everyone. The Money Edit is a jargon-free, straight-talking guide, giving us the confidence and clarity to understand money and make smarter choices at every stage in life. The book answers all the most common questions Makala has encountered from clients over the years, covering everything from budgeting and investing to buying property and preparing for the future. During this episode, we chat about what drove Makala’s career success, how we can attract more diversity in financial services, and the mindset required to manage money well. Here’s my conversation with Makala Green, author of The Money Edit, in episode 575 of Informed Choice Radio.

In this episode, we're talking about how to think critically about the news and information that you come across every day. With today's guest, Helen Lee Bouygues, we're chatting about something really important: critical thinking skills. It seems like more and more lately we're coming across fake news and information that's simply not true. It can be really hard to tell what's real and what's not, but with some simple techniques, you can start thinking critically about the news you digest, and get a better understanding of what's going on in the world. Helen Lee Bouygues is one of the most successful women in business transformation. She has served as interim CEO, CFO, or COO for more than a dozen companies. Helen is the founder of The Reboot Foundation, a columnist at Forbes, and currently working on a book on critical thinking. The Reboot Foundation is dedicated to supporting efforts by individuals and organizations to better integrate critical thinking into our daily lives. They conduct surveys and opinion polls, lead their own research, and support the work of university-affiliated scholars in a shared goal to help improve critical thinking. In our conversation today, Helen explains why social media is harming our critical thinking skills, how to improve our media literacy, and why the Pope endorsing Donald Trump for his presidency (spoiler alert: he didn't) was the modern birth of what we all know as fake news. Here's my conversation with Helen Lee Bouygues, founder of The Reboot Foundation, in episode 574 of Informed Choice Radio.

How do you manage an ‘all-weather’ global equity portfolio in 2022? My guest on the podcast today is Matthew Tillett, Lead Portfolio Manager of The Brunner Investment Trust. The Brunner Investment Trust has been around since 1927, and invests in companies all over the world. The Trust favours large, well-financed businesses with global reach, pricing power and brand strength. Prior to joining AllianzGI, who run the Brunner Trust, Matthew worked at Datamonitor and the Office for National Statistics. He graduated from Bristol University with a first class degree in Economics and Economic History. He also holds a masters (with distinction) in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics. In this conversation, we talk about what to look for in a superior business model, some of the key themes for change in the future, and how the war in Ukraine is affecting the portfolio. As ever when I speak to fund managers on this podcast, the usual disclaimers and risk warnings. This conversation is not an endorsement of a particular investment fund or a recommendation to invest. The value of your investments can go down as well as up, as can dividend income, and past performance is no guarantee of future returns. With that said, here’s my conversation with Matthew Tillett, lead portfolio manager of the Brunner Investment Trust, in episode 573 of Informed Choice Radio.

Imagine a life where you are financially savvy and independent, living with purpose and generosity while inspiring others. That’s what Holistic Wealth is all about. My guest on the podcast today is economist Keisha Blair, the bestselling author of Holistic Wealth: 32 Life Lessons To Help You Find Purpose, Prosperity and Happiness. Keisha’s story started with tragedy, the sudden death of her husband in 2009. Her experience became a viral article for Thrive Global, “My Husband Died at 34; Here Are 40 Life Lessons I Learned From It”, and the basis for her excellent book. Holistic Wealth teaches you how to find prosperity in key aspects of life, from financial stability and physical health to your emotional and spiritual connections with others. Cultivating these strengths will build the mental toughness and grit you need to weather life’s inevitable storms and setbacks. Here’s my conversation with Keisha Blair, author of Holistic Wealth, in episode 572 of Informed Choice Radio.

I imagine you've heard of NFTs? Non-fungible tokens are the latest hot digital property, but what are they, how did they evolve, and why do they have value? My guest on the show today is Matt Fortnow, entertainment lawyer turned entrepreneur. Matt is co-author of The NFT Handbook: How to Create, Sell and Buy Non-Fungible Tokens. He's become increasingly enamored by digital art and non-fungible tokens and has created the official NFTs for iconic brands such as The Three Stooges. Last year Matt discussed NFTs on Marketing for the Now with Gary Vaynerchuk. I entered this conversation with a degree of, hopefully healthy, scepticism. Regular listeners will be aware that I hold some strong views when it comes to all things cryptocurrency. But Matt helped me overcome some of my fears about NFTs, and shared what I believe was a useful conversation about their value. Here's my chat with Matt Fortnow, author of The NFT Handbook, in episode 571 of Informed Choice Radio.

Make more money. Change the world. Live the life you deserve. Sounds good, right? My guest for this episode of Informed Choice Radio is Derrick Kinney and he is all about changing how you feel about money. Derrick believes money is not bad and good people should have more of it. After applying these proven principles with thousands of clients, Kinney sold his multimillion-dollar business to teach these success steps to you. His new book is Good Money Revolution: How to Make More Money to Do More Good, in which Derrick explains why you need to add meaning to your money. In this conversation, we talk about why money isn’t the root of all evil, the importance of tracking your key financial metrics, making more money with a side hustle, and much more. Here’s my conversation with Derrick Kinney in episode 570 of Informed Choice Radio.

Soaring wholesale energy prices are squeezing household budgets, with higher costs for gas and electricity bills this winter. Many smaller energy providers have gone bust, with more expected to fail in the coming months. In this episode, I’m joined by Kevin Pratt, personal finance journalist and editor of Forbes Advisor UK, to discuss the drivers of these rising prices, what steps we can take to keep our bills manageable, and whether now is the right time to invest in renewable energy production at home. Kevin has been writing about all aspects of household finance for over 30 years, aiming to provide information that will help readers make good choices with their money. Here’s my conversation with Kevin Pratt in episode 569 of Informed Choice Radio.

Do you think of yourself as climate-conscious? With the COP26 climate change summit drawing to a close, I catch up with Sarah Pennells from Royal London to discuss responsible investing with your pension. Their new research found more than three-quarters of us claim to be climate-conscious, but more than two-thirds of pension savers are unaware their pension could be used in the fight against climate change. Pensions have the power to protect the future of the planet, but first we need to understand what responsible investing involves and how we can identify suitable responsible investments. If you want to harness your pension investments to help secure the future of the planet, this podcast episode is a great place to start. Here’s my conversation with Sarah Pennells, consumer finance specialist at Royal London, in episode 568 of Informed Choice Radio.