Best money podcasts, films and books

Education isn’t just for kids and it certainly doesn’t have to involve burying your head in a boring textbook either. If you have some free time and you’ve always wanted to be wiser with your cash and start achieving your financial goals, then we have some fun ways for you to do that. 

Learning about money is like learning a new language: don’t expect to be fluent straight away, but the more you immerse yourself in your subject, the quicker it will go in. Fancy Leonardo DiCaprio teaching you about investing or Will Smith giving you lessons in how to save money? Want to know why flipping a coin might be the best thing to do when considering a major life change? Or what the world of finance is really like in real life? Well, grab some popcorn, stick on a movie, download a podcast, or play a game – it all counts as educational material.

Best money podcasts

1. Planet Money
2. Money 101
3. It’s Not About the Money
4. Money for the Rest of Us
5. Mad Fientist
6. Disruptive Entrepreneur
7. Dave Ramsey
8. Farnoosh Torabi

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. That’s what the award-winning finance podcast Planet Money aims to do and we think it does a pretty good job. But it’s not alone. There are a host of excellent economics and personal finance podcasts out there and you don’t have to be a finance expert to understand them. 

There were an estimated 19.1m podcast listeners in the UK in 2021, according to consumer data agency Statista. That’s a 212% rise from 9m in 2017 and it predicts the numbers to keep on increasing to almost 28m by 2026. So why not join them and learn about money issues while picking up some great tips and advice along the way? 

You can learn about simple money management – covering everything from student loans, paying off debt and credit cards, to advice for women, and help on how to gain financial independence – with podcasts such as Money 101, It’s Not About the Money or Money for the Rest of Us, or attaining financial freedom with Mad Fientist.

If you are looking to start or grow a business or a side hustle, then The Disruptive Entrepreneur or Dave Ramsey and Farnoosh Torabi’s podcasts are good places to start. 

Best films about money

1. The Big Short
2. Wall Street
3. The Wolf of Wall Street
4. American Psycho
5. The Pursuit of Happyness
6. Trading Places
7. Brewster’s Millions

Whoever said that fiction is more interesting than reality wasn’t paying attention in the 2008 financial crisis. The most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s was caused by a lethal combination of excessive risk-taking by banks and, beginning in 2006, the collapse of the United States housing market.

You could have been forgiven for never having heard of sub-prime mortgages, a leveraged buyout, and collateralised debt obligations before then, but the ensuing financial crisis that they helped to cause wreaked havoc on the world economy and everyone’s personal finances.  

If you want to get a handle on what led to this then look no further than the funny, educational and downright scary movie The Big Short. The film is based on a book of the same name by Michael Lewis, which manages to explain the often mind-bending complexity of financial instruments in a clear, quirky way. 

You can trace the “greed is good” mentality of the 1980s and 1990s to Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street, or the true story of Jordan Belfort: The Wolf of Wall Street, portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the film of that name, made millions of dollars by defrauding investors from his boiler-room business. Alternatively, if you want to go really dark, you could opt for American Psycho, about a serial killer who is also an investment banker – but get the cushion ready to hide behind. 

For something more heartwarming, you could try the rags-to-riches tale The Pursuit of Happyness, starring Will Smith, or the comedies Trading Places, with Eddie Murphy, or Brewster’s Millions. While money can bring security and comfort, there is more to life than the accumulation of wealth.

Best books about finance

1. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
2. The Warren Buffett Way by Robert G Hagstrom
3. The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
4. Money: A User’s Guide by Laura Whateley
5. The Meaningful Money Handbook by Pete Matthew
6. Financial Advice for Independent Women by Mrs Moneypenny
7. The Year of Less by Cait Flanders
8. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
9. Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
10. The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford

Now you are ready to take your learning up a gear and start reading. Obviously you are already a regular on the Times Money Mentor website (our Beginner’s guide to investing is essential reading for anyone thinking of dipping their toe in the stock market), but there are excellent personal finance books and investment books out there.

A great starting point is Rich Dad Poor Dad, a bestseller since its original release in 1997. It is written by Robert Kiyosaki, the author of 12 books, all banging the drum about financial education, financial freedom, having a better relationship with money and making your cash work for you by investing in the stock market and starting your own business.

For those looking to sharpen their investing skills, there are 89 billion reasons why you might want to pick up something about Warren Buffett. We can’t promise that you’ll be worth $89bn, like the arch-investor himself, by the time you’ve finished the books, or that they are a way to get rich quickly, but The Warren Buffett Way by Robert G Hagstrom, or The Intelligent Investor, by Benjamin Graham, are good places to start. Millions of people claim they have attained financial success following Buffett’s investment strategies.

For all things personal finance, from student loans and pensions to saving money and for those who dream of being able to retire early, The Sunday Times bestseller Money: A User’s Guide by Laura Whateley is an indispensable instruction manual for all ages. It does what it says on the tin, and looks at other areas such as money and mental health, and how we manage money in relationships.

Pete Matthew’s The Meaningful Money Handbook and Mrs Moneypenny’s Financial Advice for Independent Women are also excellent choices. 

For an inspirational read, if you struggle to cut out the morning coffees and other unnecessary expenditure, give The Year of Less, by Cait Flanders, a go. Laugh and cringe at Cait’s efforts not to spend for 12 whole months.

If, like me, you’ve always wondered why you seemingly make really daft decisions about money, I also recommend Thinking, Fast and Slow, by the Nobel-prize winning Daniel Kahneman, Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, or anything by Richard Thaler or Dan Ariely. It may not be your fault after all, but the way your brain is programmed. Phew!