Informed Choice Radio Personal Finance Podcast

Everything tells us that what will make us happy can be bought, whether it’s the latest gadgets, renovated kitchens, or luxury goods. But research has shown that having more money in the bank and more stuff around the house doesn’t necessarily correlate with being a happier person. My guest on the podcast today is financial expert Melissa Leong, author of a new book Happy Go Money. Happy Go Money combines happiness psychology and personal finance and distills it into an indispensable starter guide. Each chapter provides practical, easy-to-understand advice on topics such as spending, budgeting, investing, and mindfulness, while weaving in research, interactive exercises, and relatable anecdotes. Frank, funny, and empowering, this book challenges everyone to revamp their relationship with their money so they can dial down their worries and supersize their joy. Melissa Leong is a personal finance writer, national media personality, speaker and bestselling author. She’s the resident money expert on Canada’s leading daytime talk show, The Social on CTV. Her articles have appeared in newspapers across the country, including as the personal finance writer for the Financial Post. Over the last 15 years as a journalist, Melissa has covered a variety of subjects including crime, politics, terrorism, arts and business for the National Post, the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail. She has profiled survivors of the Rwandan genocide, investigated nanny abuse in Hong Kong and interviewed thousands of subjects, including heads of state, royalty and celebrities such as Hugh Jackman and Carrie Fisher. And today she joins me on Informed Choice Radio to talk about money and happiness, two subjects we're very keen to explore here on the podcast. Here’s my conversation with Melissa Leong, author of Happy Go Money, in episode 397 of Informed Choice Radio.

It’s February and I know a lot of people are still feeling the post-Christmas pinch. With so much economic uncertainty in the build up to Brexit, it’s no surprise that we want to earn a little extra money. A big trend we’ve seen is the rise of the side hustle; no longer relying on the money we earn from the 9-5, but working a 5-9 instead, to earn a second income. That side hustle is often found online, with a variety of different ways of earning extra money. In the episode today, I’ve brought in a real expert to talk to us about 5 side hustles that can make you extra money in 2019. Emma Drew has been crowned the UK’s Best Money Making Blogger for the past 3 years. So who better to talk to us about making money from blogging, matched betting, flipping items on eBay, completing online surveys, and even through adult chat lines.

There's a big change happening in the new economy. Traditionally low-status, manual labour jobs are being transformed into elite, taste-making occupations. This is redefining 'good' jobs, which are typically knowledge or technology based, leading to a renaissance in certain trades. My guest today is Richard Ocejo, author of Masters of Craft, a new book which provides insights into the stratification of taste, gentrification, and the evolving labour market in today's postindustrial city. Richard takes a closer look at bartending, distilling, barbering, and butchering within Masters of Craft to examine how people are transforming these once-undesirable jobs into "cool" and highly specialized upscale occupational niches. He explains how people find meaning in these jobs by enacting a set of "cultural repertoires," which include technical skills based on a renewed sense of craft and craftsmanship and an ability to understand and communicate that knowledge to others, resulting in a new form of elite taste-making. In this interview, I asked Richard whether there is the same potential for career progression and personal financial gain associated with these old jobs. Here’s my conversation with Richard Ocejo, author of Masters of Craft, in episode 395 of Informed Choice Radio.

In money, as in life, there are two ways of doing most things. You can do things the easy, informal way. Or you can do things right, by the book. In this episode I'm talking about the importance of managing money for others 'by the book' and what can go wrong when you enter into informal financial arrangements with your relatives.

The vast majority of us are suffering from money worries, with more than three quarters of employees saying money worries impact them at work. That's according to new research from Close Brothers, who found 25 million people in the UK are affected by money worries at work and two in five employees worry about their finances always or often. That's a huge issue and I'm pleased to welcome onto the show today Jeanette Makings, Head of Financial Education at Close Brothers. Jeanette explains that money worries don't just affect your financial health; they are one of the single biggest causes of stress, impacting mental and physical health if left unchecked. There's a big issue here for businesses too, with money worries resulting in lower productivity, higher absenteeism and higher staff costs; all factors which hurt business performance. Here’s my conversation with Jeanette Making, head of financial education at Close Brothers, in episode 393 of Informed Choice Radio.

At some point in your life, you're going to have to switch from being a saver to being a spender. This usually happens as a result of that big life event that is retirement. And it's a huge mental shift. After a lifetime of forging a savings habit, giving that up and spending your savings instead of adding to them can be at once unsettling and uncomfortable. In this episode, some suggestions for making that mental shift from saver to spender.

  We hear a lot about Millennials and their challenges with money. Rarely a week goes by when this generation isn't being slated in the press for their failure to get onto the property ladder - or their obsession with smashed avocado on toast. It's therefore no surprise that more than half of Millennials are freaked out when it comes to their finances. My guest today has created a guide to help Millennials navigate the financial issues of their time. Certified Public Accountant Conor Richardson is offering a refreshingly helpful and elegantly designed program to tackle essential money matters, with his new book Millennial Money Makeover. In the book, Conor takes readers on a six-step journey to transform their financial life and set them up for lifelong success. From learning how to pay off student loans insanely fast to optimizing a financial ecosystem, Millennial Money Makeover teaches readers how to reclaim their financial future and jump-start the path to the rich life. This is a conversation for listeners in their twenties and thirties, but there's plenty to learn from if you're older or younger. Here’s my conversation with Conor Richardson, author of Millennial Money Makeover, in episode 391 of Informed Choice Radio.

We're all biased, whether consciously or unconsciously. But what happens when that bias enters the financial advice you receive? In this episode, I'm sharing a couple of examples of bias when it comes to financial advice, explaining how to recognise it and what you can do to make sure advice is unbiased.

When it comes to investing, things sometimes go wrong. There's risk involved when investing your money. Companies sometimes suffer a dramatic, even a catastrophic fall, in their share price. When this happens, investors lose out and employees lose their jobs. But my guest today says a company's published accounts will often offer clues to impending disaster, assuming you know where to look. Tim Steer qualified as an accountant before moving into investment analysis and fund management, becoming one of the most highly rated fund managers in Britain. Since 2000 he has also written regularly for the Times and Sunday Times, as well as contributing to the Financial Times. His new book is called The Signs Were There: The clues for investors that a company is heading for a fall. Through the forensic examination of more than 20 recent stock market disasters, Tim shows how companies hide or disguise worrying facts about the robustness of their business. In his lively style, he looks at the themes that underlie the ways companies hide the truth and he stresses that in an assessment of a company's accounts, investors should always bear in mind that the only fact is cash; everything else - profit, assets, etc - is a matter of opinion.

Death, divorce and debt have been in the news a lot this week. Not the most cheerful subjects as we get back into the swing of things in the New Year, but all three important from a financial planning perspective. So coming up in this episode, why more people die in the second week of January than during any other week of the year, why this week saw the biggest number of divorce enquiries for family lawyers, and why debt is spiraling out of control in the UK. And of course what to do about all three issues from a personal finance perspective. We've also got a roundup of the latest personal finance news - everything you need to know this week in less than five minutes - and there's the aftershow segment, with a peek into the world of Informed Choice, and my world, over the past seven days.