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Lyft vs. Uber. Netflix vs. HBO. Nike vs. Adidas. Business, like finance, is often likened to war. And war, for those not trapped on the front lines, is sometimes educational and frequently entertaining. The “Business Wars” podcast offers an unauthorized and thrilling ride as host David Brown dramatizes the inside stories of the high-stakes corporate skirmishes and battles that define our economy. These stories are ripped from the headlines of the nation’s business pages, yet they feel fresh and immediate. This podcast is one of the newer trend of podcasts that present esoteric stories as entertainment. The storytelling is first rate. Wondery, the producer, is responsible for some of the most popular podcasts ever released. Advisors who understand the details of why some companies fail and others thrive not only serve their own clients better but can be more successful in their own competitive battles.
Episodes We Recommend
Uber versus Lyft: Black Cars and Pink Mustaches (first of a six-part series)
Amazon versus Walmart: The Big Bang Theory of E-Commerce (first of a six-part series)
If you want extended conversations with the most celebrated financial and cultural innovators, the Bloomberg “Masters in Business” podcast is for you. Bloomberg columnist Barry Ritholtz has a rolodex so massive that it must have its own ZIP code. I can’t think of a substantial figure in finance, business or economics who has not been on the show. These are not puff pieces. Ritholtz is very informed and doesn’t hesitate to ask tough questions and tougher follow-ups. Most of the episodes last over an hour, but some are substantially longer. There are riches to be had here for those who have the attention span.
Episodes We Recommend
Paul Krugman (NY Times columnist) on Arguing With Zombies
Sarah Ketterer (CEO Causeway Capital) Discusses Investment Management
“The Fairer Cents” features deep conversations about money matters unique to women. The podcast is mostly not about the details of investing or personal finance. The hosts are committed to investigating why money imposes so many unique obstacles and barriers on women. They drill down into such areas as health insurance, the economics of reproduction, sexism in the office and the power imbalances of income inequality. Gen Xer Tanja Hester early-retired from full-time work at age 38. Co-host Kara Perez created the Bravely community, which looks to give women the financial tools to bridge the gap between their dreams and their realities. The conversations with a diverse range of guests focus on the challenges women face when it comes to money. The hosts understand the depth of the problems women face regarding their finances, and they aren’t afraid to dig in.
Episodes We Recommend
Meb Faber is chief investment officer of Cambria Investment Management. He is also a born storyteller with a background informed by stints as a ski bum and surfer. These laid-back podcasts, nevertheless, offer well-crafted insights into such areas as global equity, bond and real asset markets. Frequently technical, the episodes are geared toward finance professionals who want a deep dive into the topic at hand. Faber guests are carefully curated to deliver proven, topical insights. Faber has a wonderful speaking style that is slower than most podcast hosts. Some listeners boast they can listen to the Meb Faber Show at 1.5X or even 2X speed. Each episode has a dedicated web page with summary, time stamps and full transcripts.
Episodes We Recommend
Advisors are into building things. Portfolios. Practices. Referrals. Profits. The “How I Built This” podcast focuses on the disciplines required to build successful businesses, as narrated by some of the brightest lights in business and cultural innovation. Building on NPR production values, host Guy Raz interviews some of the biggest entrepreneurs in the world to find out how they got their businesses to be as profitable as they are. Raz brings years of journalism chops and a soothing but persistent presence to the conversations, pushing entrepreneurs, such as David Neeleman (founder of JetBlue Airways) and Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield (founders of Ben & Jerry’s), to really dig into the story of what it takes to construct successful brands.
Episodes We Recommend
The Fitbit Tracker: James Park
A podcast that prides itself on shaking things up and challenging every assumption about innovation and practice management is just the thing with COVID-19 shaking up every business practice. Host Tamara Ghandour approaches each interview as the in-the-trenches innovation practitioner that she is. “Inside LaunchStreet” focuses on business innovation as the key for each advisor to unlock the unique innovation advantage they alone control. With a warm, easy presence, Ghandour interviews top finance innovators and gleans specific, actionable and often overlooked practices that advisors can apply to their own practices. Every episode has a well-resourced web page.
Episodes We Recommend
Future-Back Innovation with Mark Johnson
Host Chris Browning is a financial analyst who understands the value of brevity. These short podcasts are as light as a bag of popcorn yet are packed with great content entertainingly packaged. While Browning’s analytical chops are obvious, he makes every subject accessible. Browning keeps the tone light but is not afraid to take on the most sensitive issues of the day, including racism in society and whether to share your salary with co-workers. Recommended for those who want a definite dose of social justice with their investment advice. Chris Browning was named one of NerdWallet’s African American Financial Gurus to follow in 2018 and 2019.
Episodes We Recommend
Do You Share Your Salary with Your Co-Workers?
Racism is Like Dust in the Air
Economic theories often invoke an entity called “homo economicus”—humans who are rational and consistently pursue their financial objectives. Unfortunately, no advisor has ever encountered such an entity. The reality is that cognitive and emotional biases cloud the decisions of investors and advisors alike. Each episode of the “Financial Decoder” podcast focuses on one financial decision and the biases that come into play to cloud the judgment of investors and advisors alike. Host Mark Riepe, head of the Schwab Center for Financial Research, decodes the behavioral and psychological factors at play and shares strategies designed to improve the way tricky financial crossroads may be navigated. Interviews concentrate on the basics of finance, portfolio management, retirement planning and personal finance through the lens of behavioral economics. Though produced by Schwab and featuring appearances by the occasional Schwab expert, there is absolutely no self-promotion. Each episode features a robust web page with full transcripts.
Episodes We Recommend
Should You Get Out of the Market Now and Get Back In Later?
How Can You Pay Yourself in Retirement?
How do we actually know anything? Investors and advisors struggle with this question every day. What is evidence? What is proof? What is fake news? In “The Last Archive” podcast, Harvard historian Jill Lepore traces the history of evidence, proof and knowledge through a fascinating set of stories known and unknown to reveal a bigger truth that the elemental unit of knowledge changes over time. The title of the podcast speaks to the place where the last things we knew for certain abide. The truth may be available for those who dig deep enough. In these stories, masterfully supported by archival audio and dramatized by a group of voice actors in the style of a 1930s radio drama, Lepore takes listeners on a journey through time and place to answer the fundamental question plaguing every investment decision, How do we know what we know?
Episodes We Recommend
Advisors encourage their clients to be transparent about what keeps them up at night. Yet as a rule, advisors tend to keep the issues that concern themselves pretty close to the vest. “The Transparency with Diana B.” podcast undertakes to challenge the secrecy mindset by inviting advisors to share the innermost challenges and struggles they confront, thereby revealing that the lives of advisors are just as fragile as those of clients. Hosted by Diana Britton, the managing editor of WealthManagement.com, each podcast takes a matter-of-fact look at the reality that advisors are human just like everyone else. One podcast assays the near-death experience faced by an advisor; another features a financial planning firm that focuses on special-needs individuals and their families. The goal is healing; the conversations frequently moving. The takeaway is that we are only as vulnerable as our secrets. (Full disclosure: I am a contributor to WealthManagement.com; Diana Britton is my manager.)
Episodes We Recommend
Life in Lockdown During COVID-19
Advisors are called on to have uncomfortable conversations with clients. Because so many clients are anxious and secretive about money, hurtful money myths abound, making such conversations even more fraught—to the detriment of everyone but especially women who have historically been denied accurate information about money. Each “Breaking Money Silence” podcast attempts to explode at least one money myth. Host Kathleen Burns Kingsbury, a wealth psychology expert and author, has an easy way of talking about the most challenging topics. The podcast focuses on helping women talk more openly about money.
Episodes We Recommend
Will More Money Make Life Better?
Is Social Security Really Different for Women?
The companies we use and invest in don’t operate by themselves. They are managed by all-too-human leaders who display every human attribute from genius to avarice. Advisors can take salient lessons from understanding the origin of today’s brands: what they did well and how easily they went off the rails. Host Seth Stevenson and the producers at Slate do a great job of narrating stories about brands that shape how we live and work. Advisors may think they know many of these stories, but “Thrilling Tales of Modern Capitalism” brings the stories full circle to show why they find themselves in their present circumstances. Whether the stories are old (Domino’s Pizza) or ripped from the headlines of today’s business pages (Carnival Corporation in the wake of COVID-19), the podcast offers listeners an exhilarating ride.
Episodes We Recommend
Floating Hellscapes: The Carnival Corporation
Kings of Consulting: McKinsey & Company
The companies we use and invest in don’t operate by themselves. They are managed by all-too-human leaders who display every human attribute from genius to avarice. Advisors can take salient lessons from understanding the origin of today’s brands: what they did well and how easily they went off the rails. Host Seth Stevenson and the producers at Slate do a great job of narrating stories about brands that shape how we live and work. Advisors may think they know many of these stories, but “Thrilling Tales of Modern Capitalism” brings the stories full circle to show why they find themselves in their present circumstances. Whether the stories are old (Domino’s Pizza) or ripped from the headlines of today’s business pages (Carnival Corporation in the wake of COVID-19), the podcast offers listeners an exhilarating ride.
Episodes We Recommend
Floating Hellscapes: The Carnival Corporation
Kings of Consulting: McKinsey & Company
For the past five years, Morningstar, a widely recognized name in the investing world, has been posting a weekly podcast series called “Investing Insights.” The Morningstar brand—a research firm for reviews and ratings of securities, mutual funds and exchange traded funds—is well suited to a podcast that takes a weekly look at the most topical developments of interest to both institutional and retail investors. A rotating team of hosts interviews Morningstar analysts to offer tips and advice on which stocks and funds are the best (and potentially the worst) prospects for investors. The short episodes examine basic market concepts every investor needs to know (e.g., rebalancing, diversification) but do not shy away from highly technical and esoteric themes (e.g., tax loss harvesting, portfolio de-risking, choosing target-date funds). Occasionally, an industry influencer appears to discuss their stock picks and viewpoints on where the market is and where it could be headed next. Thankfully, the podcast places the obligatory boiler plate disclosure statement at the end of each episode.
Episodes We Recommend
How to Stay Invested Today, Tomorrow, and for the Long-Term
Rethinking Retirement Income and Investment Strategies
Host Whitney Hansen is a personal finance coach and entrepreneur who considers budgeting cool, hence the name of the podcast. Themes focus on paying off debt, financial independence and work-life balance. The weekly episodes have a millennial energy that should be of interest to advisors who want to cultivate clients in this demographic. “The Money Nerds” podcasts are more conversations than interviews. Whitney’s guests are usually people who have demonstrated the ability to address thorny practical financial problems.
Episodes We Recommend
How Improv + Comedy Can Improve Your Life
Teaching Kids about Money + Entrepreneurship
