Hartford Courant (Sunday)

7 podcasts your wallet will love

- By Emma Dibdin The New York Times

Money is a stressful subject at the best of times, and only more so now in these worst of times. With unemployme­nt at levels unseen since the Great Depression and entire industries in limbo, financial uncertaint­y is now the norm for millions of households.

If the pandemic has you trying to overhaul your budget or beef up your emergency savings — or if you’re simply trying to get a better handle on what on earth is happening to the markets — there are plenty of podcasts offering guidance. Many long-running shows offer up-to-theminute advice on personal finance, while others dig into first-person stories of money trouble or endeavor to make economics more fun.

These seven shows will help you weather the financial storm with your sanity intact, and keep your bottom line in good shape long into the future. talk about building their fortunes, it can also feel alienating if you’re saddled with debt, struggling to make ends meet or simply intimidate­d by money. Enter Gaby Dunn, the very funny, very relatable host of “Bad With Money,” who spent many years in a financial hole and now shares wry advice on how to turn things around. As a queer millennial, Dunn is highly attuned to, and refreshing­ly blunt, about structural injustices of the financial system, whether it’s the student loan industry or health insurance maze. Enjoyable though Dunn’s interviews with experts and celebrity guests are, the real highlights of the show are her candid personal money confession­s. At one point Dunn records herself making long-put-off calls to her bank and student loan provider, and in doing so explores the combinatio­n of shame and powerlessn­ess that keeps many people from taking simple money steps. who don’t work a 9-to-5 shift, but aren’t highrollin­g entreprene­urs either. The host, Lillian Karabaic, tailors her friendly, useful advice to artists, freelancer­s and small-business owners. Along with traditiona­l explainers on how to pick a marketplac­e health plan or save for retirement if you don’t have access to a traditiona­l 401(k) plan, there are episodes on meal prepping, credit card rewards for travel and other thrifty day-to-day hacks. coverage has been characteri­stically compassion­ate and incisive; it has released a “Pandemic

Tool Kit” and a COVID-19 call-in show titled “Alone Together” that’s guaranteed to make you feel less isolated.

Glamour’s editor-in-chief, Samantha Barry, the show tackles subjects like budgeting as a single mother and the challenges facing female business owners. But several memorable episodes explore the dynamics of money in relationsh­ips, and specifical­ly the toll that an income gap takes on friends or romantic partners.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States