Our Favorite Personal Finance Podcasts for Any Type of Listener

There are over 2 million podcasts as of January 2023, with 100 million active listeners in the U.S., and the age group 25-34 years accounts for 28% of podcast listeners*. From daily news podcasts and true crime podcasts to fictional story podcasts and personal finance podcasts, there are a lot of podcasts for your daily commute.

Since personal finance can be a difficult and expansive concept, we selected some of our favorites to help you get your finances in order. Each podcast is good for various reasons, so we broke down the best parts. (Now you don’t have to!) Here are our favorite podcasts and their best qualities:

Financial Freedom & Millennial Money Minutes

Best Podcast for The Recent College Grad

Financial Freedom was created by Grant Sabatier, who also wrote a book under the same name and hosts a blog called MillennialMoney.com. CNBC has referred to him as “the Millennial Millionaire.” He was unemployed and broke after college, until he decided he wanted to have enough money to enjoy life. He shares his journey and what he learned with readers and listeners to make financial freedom accessible to all. Each episode ranges between 30 and 50 minutes.

From The Website: “Financial Freedom was launched in 2018 and focuses on money, meaning, and everything in between. On the Financial Freedom podcast, we interview remarkable people and share strategies for mastering money and living a meaningful life. Topics include personal finance, investing, side hustling, real estate, entrepreneurship, early retirement, and more. Hosted by Grant Sabatier, author of Financial Freedom and creator of Millennial Money.”

Why We Like It: This podcast focuses on the roadmap in front of millennials who are driven and determined to become financially independent. Encouraging hustle, entrepreneurship, value, and investments, Millennial Money understands the plight of millennials. Grant also wrote a book and a blog outlining his journey and advising those who wish to become financially free. Millennial Money is the perfect all-in-one podcast for the in-debt and confused millennial. There’s also a Millennial Money Minutes version of the podcast – tough personal finance topics boiled down and presented in 5 minutes or less.

Planet Money & The Indicator

Best Podcast for Understanding The Economy

Planet Money, produced by National Public Radio, describes itself as the podcast version of sitting down at a bar and enjoyably discussing the economy. The dialogue is engaging, concise, easy to understand, and often surprising. Most episodes are under 20 minutes and focus on different stories that help to explain how economic concepts impact your everyday life.

The Indicator is made and produced by the same people as Planet Money, but it’s focused more on the indicators that signal weakness or strength in the economy and what that means for you. Set up similarly, with even shorter episodes than Planet Money (10 minutes or under), you can listen to these two podcasts together to get a fuller picture of how the economy functions.

From The Website: “The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, ‘Meet me at the bar and tell me what’s going on with the economy.’ Now imagine that’s actually a fun evening.”

Why We Like It: Planet Money and The Indicator are fun listenings. Their podcasts focus on quirky, often humorous stories you probably haven’t heard that illustrate the consequences (intended and not) of government policies, individuals’ actions, and the economic principles guiding them. It’s a straightforward, surprising, engaging, and entertaining way to learn about what’s going on in the world.

So Money

Best For Financial Inspiration

So Money is created and hosted by Farnoosh Torabi, who explains that at 22, she was in over $30,000 of debt making $18 an hour in New York City – with her master’s degree. She found that she lacked access to financial advice that was easy to understand and effective. After writing a book, “You’re So Money”, advocating for financial independence for young adults, she began coaching and created this podcast.

Farnoosh realizes that paying off debt is more than just creating a budget and sticking to it; she understands that emotional and psychological barriers make paying debt very difficult. During her half-hour to forty-five-minute podcasts, she interviews people about their journeys and highlights their good and bad experiences. On Fridays, she also does a segment called #AskFarnoosh so that listeners can write in for her advice.

From The Website: “So Money brings inspiring money strategies and stories straight from today’s top business minds, authors, and influencers. What was their financial journey and how do they master their money today? Hear from inspiring individuals and learn about their financial philosophies, wins, failures, and habits. Plus, their secret guilty pleasures.”

Why We Like It: Farnoosh is a driven individual who has created her personal finance brand from the ground up. (That in itself is inspiring.) What we like the most about her podcast is the episode she devotes each week to answering her listeners’ questions. The questions are relatable, like how to negotiate a salary and create a budget. If you have a question, chances are there’s an Ask Farnoosh episode that covers it – or you can write in!

The Dave Ramsey Show

Best for the Overspender in Debt

Dave Ramsey is a very well-known and respected figure in personal finance, and luckily for those who struggle with their finances, he runs a podcast. He focuses on baby steps to help you get out of debt and advises on the difficult money questions in life. He has written several books and has 14 million weekly listeners, so he knows what he’s talking about. Each day he publishes multiple new episodes at 40 minutes each, so there is endless content focused on various financial questions and difficulties. His website also has classes and a step-by-step guide to getting out of debt. Dave is your guy if you’re ever stressed and serious about getting out of debt.

From The Website: “Dave empowers callers to get out of debt, gain control of their money, and achieve financial peace.”

Why We Like It: Dave is so dedicated to helping individuals get out of debt and become financially independent and at peace that he has a “debt-free scream” on-air weekly where real people sign up to come on air and “scream” out in happiness that they have achieved their goal. So, it really works! Additionally, multiple new episodes are released daily so you’ll never be short of information and advice.

Optimal Finance Daily

Best for a Financial Mindset and Lifestyle Makeover

Optimal Finance Daily has a unique approach to the personal finance podcast genre. Rather than interviewing individuals, the podcast hosts read blogs covering personal finance tips, tricks, stories, and more. Each episode narrates a blog post specially curated by the OFD team (with permission from the author). Rather than you sifting through tons of different blog posts that cover one of the many different personal finance topics, they read these pieces and summarize them for you. A habit-forming and unique twist on the personal finance podcast field makes Optimal Finance Daily stand out in our minds as a great podcast to follow.

From The Website: “We hand-pick and read you the best content on personal development, minimalism, finance, health, business, and more with author permission. Think of Optimal Living Daily as an audio blog or blogcast where the best blogs are narrated to you for free. Inspire positive changes in your life on the go.”

Why We Like It: It’s different. We all read blogs and articles to get information – think about the last time you googled “how to get out of debt.” There are thousands and thousands of results for each question! Having a team of dedicated individuals curate content from these blog posts based upon relevance and excellence makes it easy to learn (and listen to). They also promote journalists by sharing their stories, which is awesome!

We Study Billionaires

For The Wannabe Investor

We Study Billionaires has a pretty simple premise – they study investors who have become wealthy (not all of them are billionaires) and explain how their process led to success. Episodes typically run around a half-hour, covering lessons from poker champion Annie Duke to Warren Buffet to Oprah! This is a great podcast to listen to if you want to gain a greater understanding of the market and investing, as well as the different types of investing and how much risk to take on.

From The Website: “We study self-made financial billionaires like Warren Buffett and Ray Dalio, and teach you what we learn and how you can apply their investing processes in the stock market.”

Why We Like It: This podcast covers all different types of people who got rich by doing different things, but they all invested their money well, which allowed their wealth to grow. The stock market and investing can be very complicated topics, and we like how this podcast focuses on market terms and helps explain them in the context of someone’s actual investments. It allows for an easier understanding of a confusing concept, personifying something extremely vague and complex.

Side Hustle School

Best For the Individual Who Wants Extra Dough & Works Hard

Imagine a daily podcast that teaches you how to earn extra money without quitting your day job – a dream come true? The Side Hustle School podcast stresses that having more than one source of income allows you to make more money and pay off more debt, but it also highlights the other positive lifestyle and financial effects of working hard. They also stress that having a side hustle doesn’t have just to work but can be fun too! The website presents each episode in weekly groups from the first week up until the current week. Because each episode is only 10 minutes, catching up and feeling inspired by the short and info-packed shows is easy.

From The Website: “A daily show for everyone who works a regular job and wants to start an income-earning project on the side. In each episode, listeners will hear a different story of someone who’s started a side hustle—along with what went well, how that person overcame challenges, and what happened. The show is written and hosted by Chris Guillebeau, the New York Times bestselling author of The $100 Startup, The Happiness of Pursuit, and other books.”

Why We Like It: It’s said to be a “school,” and it runs like one, breaking up each week into daily 10 minute episodes that highlight people who have created monumentally successful side hustles and the adversity they faced while trying to achieve success. Side Hustle School additionally focuses on the idea that a side hustle can be a creative outlet, not just extra work!

How to Money

Best For the Out of the Box Thinker

Releasing multiple podcasts weekly on various topics How to Money is a collection of interviews and personal success stories. The hosts also run many episodes that examine topics you may not realize impact your finances. Some episodes feature “$Pros” who explain how to stop spending on new clothes or how to cut college costs. There are also episodes about finding the cheapest flight and how to teach kids about money. With such a wide array of episodes and topics, How to Money has an episode that can help absolutely everyone. Their comparative episodes are great too, such as Renovate or Sell? How to Money is a great choice for out-of-the-box thinking, financial advice, and lifestyle advice to improve your financial standings.

From The Website: “While finding creative ways to save money is practically their pastime, Joel and Matt still strive to live a rich life in the areas that matter. That’s why How to Money was started – to tell money stories that matter. Joel and Matt believe that when you decide to handle the money you have in a purposeful, thoughtful way that works for your lifestyle, you can really start living a rich life.”

Why We Like It: They focus on topics that other podcasts don’t, like why Costco and other bulk clubs are worth it or an episode examining how much children really cost. The variety that this show brings ensures there is something for everyone, and the hosts are extremely easy to listen to and inspiring. They’re also fun! Each episode, they enjoy a craft beer while recording – that’s something we can get behind.