I Listened To Them All So You Didn’t Have To

This weekend, I had a five hour bus ride in two directions and limited internet access, meaning I took the opportunity to consume some personal finance-related media, this time in the form of podcasts. I also was researching podcasts in particular because I’m thinking of having one associated with this blog. (So in addition to learning new things, I was scoping out the competition a little.) Here’s what I have to say about the podcasts that are still in existance (some of them are listed but haven’t been updated in over a year).

No Credit Needed Podcast

This thirty minute long podcast was a little boring at points but the information was good. The host goes off on life story tangents and doesn’t talk to guests so the thirty minutes doesn’t feel broken into digestable bites. I found my mind wandering at points, as if I was in a college lecture class again. If you can stay with him though, he does offer the occasional nugget of information (in this case, he gave a compelling arguement but building savings before paying down debt, which is the opposite of what I would be thinking). All in all, worth going to class but bring some paper to doodle on while you listen.

Money Girls Quick and Dirty Tips

This podcast is about five minutes long and sticks to one topic, in this case, compound interest. Her multiple examples are interesting and drive her point home but towards the end they felt repetitive. She directs listeners to a compound interest calculator on her site (good marketing) and she is a fairly engaging speaker who seems well organized and pleasant. From her name, I thought she’d be more hip but no nonsense would be the word I would use to describe Money Girl.

Your Money with Chuck Jaffee

Chuck Jaffee sounds like your typical conservative talk radio host, which was initially a little off-putting to me. He stuck to one topic with his special guest and you can tell from his voice and ease interviewing that he has a regular radio show. I’ve decided that any podcast of length should involve more then one voice. It just makes this more interesting. Both Chuck and his guest were smooth and a little too self promoting, making them easy to listen to but also made me roll my eyes a little.

Your Money- Question Answer session with "Investor Ed"

This podcast is government sponsored and feels a little thrown together. The information is good (it is question and answer style responding to listener inquiries) and about things I know nothing about, making me feel more like listening to it. It seems, however, that no thought has been put into making it interesting. The room where it is recorded sounds echo-y and the people sound like they may fall asleep themselves mid-program. I understand they can’t sound like they are using too many tax dollars but I’d gladly earmark $20 of my taxes to putting some sound dampening in that room.

Moneyblogger Podcast

The money blogger is a blogger first and a podcaster second. He interviews an author of a financial book, which leads me to think he’s a good enough blogger to be well connected. His guest has the interesting idea that a "savings account" sounds like putting off fun (negative) whereas "investing" is less about denying pleasure now and more about savoring it later. The host asked really good questions but made me see how an inexperienced interviewer can give themselves away by seeming awkward.

"savings account" as negative…think investing, host asks good questions but seems a little awkward. This podcast was actually my favorite because the information was atypical, the information was useful by me, and the podcast itself was very memorable.

There are more to talk about but I’ll save those for tomorrow. In the meantime, have you heard any of these? Also, would you listen to my weekly-biweekly podcast were I to have one?

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