Becoming a personal investor can be incredibly exciting. When the markets are quickly moving—as they have been over the past two years—there will be plenty of opportunities to watch your wealth increase (or decrease) in a relatively limited amount of time. The personal investing world, without a doubt, can be incredibly exciting. But you’ll also want to make sure you have the education and the resources needed for you to successfully navigate it.
There are plenty of resources available to help both amateur and experienced investors navigate various markets. One of the best categories of resources available, as plenty of data suggests, is podcasts.
Podcasts are great for aspiring investors for a variety of different reasons. Compared to other sources of investment advice and wisdom, podcasts are easy to consume (listening on the way to work, etc.), engaging, and, in most cases, incredibly affordable (often free).
The question that remains is, what are the best investment podcasts currently available? If you visit any podcast provider, you’ll find there are many different options available to choose from. While we’d recommend exploring as many as you can, here are a few that you’ll likely find to be useful:
1. Planet Money
Hosted by National Public Radio (NPR) and available on almost all podcast platforms, Planet Money is one of the best resources for learning about economics, investing, technology, and other relevant issues. The podcast, which currently has more than 900 free episodes for listeners to enjoy, has been running for more than a decade and typically produces two new podcasts per week (usually about 20 minutes long).
Each episode of Planet Money is fairly unique, and we encourage you to take a deep dive throughout their entire catalog. However, if you are looking for a good place to get started, check out episode 189, titled Why a Dead Shark Costs $12 million. This episode is a great example of how Planet Money can focus on niche economic topics, all while maintaining NPR’s trademark human interest twist.
2. Motley Fool Money
Motley Fool, in general, is an excellent resource for people who are beginning to explore the stock market. The Fool’s hand-selected stock picks, on average, outperform the S&P 500 Index—but the platform, which is visited by millions of people per day, offers so much more than stock picks. They also offer valuable resources that can help traders of all stripes enhance their approach to the market and potentially improve their ROI.
The Motley Fool’s weekly podcast, simply titled Motley Fool Money, offers a superb breakdown of the latest happenings on Wall Street, including how specific stocks are performing as well as trends that are affecting the entire market. It’s a fast-moving ecosystem, so the episodes are typically most valuable for investors the week they come out. Still, looking at the deep backlog c can help you learn a lot about how the market develops over time. We recommend checking out an episode from 2020 called Toys, Candy, Alcohol and CES 2020 to get a snapshot of how the Fool approaches new topics.
3. Get Started: The Beginner’s Guide to the Stock Market
Entering into the stock market can be a bit overwhelming, which is why so many people decide to either hire a broker or simply invest in a basic index fund. Luckily, there is an abundance of resources available to help you get oriented, including the five-part Beginner’s Guide to the Stock Market, which helps break down some of the most important topics relating to the stock market and can help aspiring investors increase their confidence.
Though the series is short, it’s definitely a useful primer. One of our favorite episodes is called Finding Great Companies, which breaks down how new investors can identify the stocks most likely to increase in value. It draws on theories from some of Wall Street’s most successful traders and also briefly discusses how to analyze specific industries.
4. Chit Chat Money
Chit Chat Money, which is hosted by Brett Schaffer and Ryan Henderson, is a great podcast for investors who are ready to begin doing some deeper analysis. It’s a very ambitious podcast that typically produces up to three podcasts per week, which can range in duration from half an hour to up to two hours. The podcast is known for its deep dives, where it breaks down many of the financial components of the company and discusses both short-term and long-term trends that might affect their stock values.
The episodes of Chit Chat money that you’ll find most useful will depend on the industries you are most interested in trading. But if you are looking for a general starting point, we really enjoyed the Redfin breakdown, which discussed the unique intersection of real estate and technology.
5. Business Daily by BBC World Service
There are so many global trends that can affect the stock prices of specific companies and even entire markets. This has proven to be especially true over the last few years, when markets around the globe have been experiencing exceptionally high levels of volatility. If you are looking for a way to stay up to date with these big events, the British Broadcasting Company’s (BBC) Business Daily podcast is a great resource for getting the full scoop, all within a daily 17-18 episode.
Usually, the most recent episodes will probably be most relevant. A great example of a recent episode was called Debt Relief: Who Should Foot the Bill?, an episode that discussed how many of the world’s poorest countries are currently facing a credit crisis. The episode is a perfect example of how the podcast is able to look at economic, financial, and even moral events from a completely global lens.
Conclusion
Finding the perfect podcast for investors won’t always be easy. The one that is best for you will depend on your level of time commitment, your investing experience, as well as the topics you are most interested in. Nevertheless, any of these five options might be very beneficial.
