Making Money

*This episode was originally published in July 2024 - some facts and figures may have changed* We can't talk enough about the pensions crisis. Most people aren't saving enough for the life they are going to want and something has to be done about it. We cover the big questions: why is there a problem, how much we really need to be saving and will the state pension even exist when you retire? Tom McPhail is a pensions industry expert. He no longer works for finance consultancy firm Lang Cat. If you want to watch me talk about my accident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKvUB0ks2BU 

How should you invest in retirement? Are annuities actually a good idea again? What if you've only got 5 years to get to your goal? We put your biggest money questions to friend of the podcast and financial adviser Lisa Conway-Hughes. You can learn more about Lisa's advice firm here: https://lchwealth.co.uk/most/ 

On this podcast we speak to investors, economists and money experts. But some of the most interesting perspectives come from people outside the finance industry. Today's guest is Cam, a serving soldier in the British Army and the creator of the Savvy Squaddie YouTube channel. Do you want to share your money stories on the podcast? ⁠https://makingmoney.email/listener-story-form

What would happen if someone else got access to your phone? I'd not really thought about how serious that could be until this conversation with Victoria.

One thing we've learned from interviewing hundreds of people about money is that the numbers are only part of the story. Today we're speaking to Neil, better known as Neil Invests, not just about his portfolio, but the journey that got him there - from sleeping on his sister's floor and battling shame and depression, to building £175k in his ISA over 6 years and being planning to retire at 50.  Here's the link to our compound interest calculator: https://makingmoney.email/compound-interest-calculator You can find Neil on Instagram and Youtube @neilinvests Listen to our episode with Toby here: https://pod.link/1674547187/episode/ZDBiOTRlMjQtZmFhZC0xMWVmLWE4NDktZmY0ZWEyMzBkMDJk

They say our money habits are shaped by our parents, with many of them formed before we're even seven years old. So I wanted to find out where my relationship with money really came from. To do that, I sat down with the one person who's been there from the very beginning.

Patrick Foster is a recovering addict who spent every day for 13 years gambling. It all started with a 2 pound bet... TW: This video contains discussions of suicide and addiction, which some listeners may find distressing. If you are struggling with addiction in the UK: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/addiction-support/ Patrick's website: Patrick's app: https://reclaimapp.co.uk/

Does UK politics actually work? Is the system broken? And if it is, what needs to change? We don't often do political interviews, but this felt like an important moment to have one. We spoke to political commentator Ian Dunt two years ago before Labour came to power. He correctly predicted what would happen. So we got him back on.

Modern Britain has been shaped by economic decisions. Was austerity the biggest economic mistake of the last generation? Cahal Moran is an economist and host of the YouTube channel Unlearning Economics. His latest book is Why We're Getting Poorer (https://amzn.eu/d/0cNLJJDO).

Ramin Nakisa from PensionCraft is back. Like me he's spent years explaining why investing 100% in global equities works. But recently, he changed his portfolio, cutting his exposure by almost half. What changed? And what might make him change his mind again?

What's the best kind of stock market for a new investor? Most people assume you want years of rising prices. But Andrew Clare, who's spent decades researching investing, says that's not always true. Here's Andrew's paper: https://doi.org/10.3905/jor.2025.1.180 ❓Survey - how are you saving for your future? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://makingmoney.email/survey⁠⁠

Megan was in her early 30s when she and her partner finally faced up to more than 14 years of debt. After years of overdrafts, credit cards and quietly spiralling finances, they confronted nearly £40,000 they owed. Megan documented their journey out of debt (@that_girl_in_debt), and now they've taken their first steps into investing and hope to save £40,000. Do you have your own story about money, investing, or financial mistakes? We'd love to hear it: ⁠https://makingmoney.email/listener-story-form

The UK has some of the most expensive household electricity in the world. Why are energy bills so high, and will they ever come down? The price you pay is shaped by rules set by Ofgem, the UK's energy regulator. Neil Kenward is their Interim Director General of Markets. Thank you to everyone who sent in a question! 

Chris Budd is a former financial planner who believes we're building wealth in completely the wrong way. ❓Survey - how are you saving for your future? ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://makingmoney.email/survey⁠⁠

70% of people don't budget which means there's an opportunity for you to be better than most. A budget helps you navigate from the financial stage you're at now to the one you want to get to, whatever your goal is. We're here to find out how to budget, but first of all, let's find out what Damo and T are wasting their money on... *This episode was originally published in May 2023 ❓Survey - how are you saving for your future? ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://makingmoney.email/survey⁠⁠

In 1995, Nick Leeson brought down the UK's oldest merchant bank, Barings, with £862 million in hidden losses. The final hit to Barings was £827 million, triggering one of the biggest financial collapses in history. He explains how it really happened and how things spiralled over time. Was it fear of failure, the pressure to succeed, or something deeper that kept him going?

Can you actually afford to buy a home right now? And if you can, should you? Eddie Ross is co-founder of Tembo Money, a mortgage broker that helps first-time buyers get on the ladder. He answers your questions about affordability, how mortgages actually work today, what's happening with LISAs and covers some of the lesser-known options that most people don't talk about.

Finance professor Mo Milevsky explains why your “human capital” (your career, income, and life choices) should shape how you invest both when you're building wealth and when in retirement and why most people are taking the wrong kind of risk.

Have you ever felt it is too late to start investing? Dave is 46, and he started investing at 44. He's just managed to max out his ISA this year. How did he do it? Thank you to everyone who entered the competition, the winners have now been contacted. Thank you so much for listening and also a big thanks to Andrew Craig, the author, for kindly providing an additional five copies. Do you have a story you'd like to share on the podcast? ⁠https://makingmoney.email/listener-story-form

Will your pension actually be enough for retirement? Or are you heading for a shortfall without realising it? Al Miles is an investment actuary who has analysed the UK pension system, and found that millions of workers will fall short of what they need for retirement. But she didn't stop there. She's also looked at ways we can fix it. 

The S&P 500 once delivered 17 years of zero real returns. Could it happen again? Jim Reid is the Global Head of Macro Research at Deutsche Bank. In a recent report, The Ultimate Guide to Long-Term Investing, his team analysed data from 56 countries over 200 years. You can read the full report on the Deutsche Bank Research Institute website: https://www.dbresearch.com/PROD/RI-PROD/PDFVIEWER.calias?pdfViewerPdfUrl=PROD0000000000607211&rwnode=REPORT *All figures were correct at time of recording but may have changed.

More than half of adults in the UK don't have a will. So what happens if you die without one?  Sam Grice is CEO of Octopus Legacy. If you're like T and you don't have a will you can currently get a free will through Octopus Legacy (offer expires 9th of April 2026): https://will.octopuslegacy.com/making-money Correction: Outside of the free wills campaign, the cost for a simple will is £150, and a will with trust is £450

Susan wrote into us: What do you think of the ‘Die with Zero' philosophy by Bill Perkins? I know many people who work so hard that they never get to enjoy retirement. There are three widows in my gym group in their 50s. I also know many people hoarding money in their late 70s, frightened to spend anything.

Timothy Armoo was twenty seven when he sold his company Fanbytes for tens of millions of pounds. He's written the book he wish he'd had when he was starting out (https://amzn.eu/d/05juET3K)

What if you live longer than you expect? Can you make your money last in retirement? Marianna Hunt is a personal finance specialist at Fidelity International. She's looked at how you can actually plan for it. Here's our compound calculator: https://makingmoney.email/compound-interest-calculator

Is slow population growth going to change your retirement? Amlan Roy is an expert in demographics and has advised governments all over the world. He says the way our population is changing is at the heart of all the big issues we're facing today, not just pensions.  You can get Amlan's book ‘Demographics Unravelled' here: https://a.co/d/0gyPSQbi

Are you being misled about the state of the UK economy? What really went wrong? And how do we fix it? Vicky Pryce was a top economist inside the civil service, and worked for years in the private sector. Her latest book is Mismanaged Decline: What Politicians Won't Tell You About the Economy (https://amzn.eu/d/0kD8EVO).

What if personal finance wasn't just complicated, it was actually rigged against you, Tarun Ramadorai, professor of financial economics at Imperial College London, has advised central banks and sovereign wealth funds. And he's co-written a book ‘Fixed: Why Personal Finance Is Broken and How to Make It Work for Everyone'.

Ask anyone who the world's best investor is, chances are, they'll say Warren Buffett. Every move he makes makes headlines. Together with Charlie Munger, he built Berkshire Hathaway, one of the biggest names in the S&P 500. Now that he's stepped down as CEO, we've invited Glen Arnold, who literally wrote the book, in fact, all four books of The Deals of Warren Buffett.

Ben Felix has one of the few personal finance channels I watch. Chief Investment Officer at PWL Capital, he also co-hosts  the Rational Reminder podcast. We discuss the finance ‘rules' to avoid,  why human behavior makes us bad investors, and the questions you need to ask if you want your money to support a better life. Ben also opens up about his cancer diagnosis earlier this year and how it's changed his perspective.

To kick off the year we asked for your biggest money questions, which we're answering with financial adviser and friend of the podcast, Lisa Conway-Hughes. This is Lisa's advice firm LCH/WEALTH: https://lchwealth.co.uk Set up a Financial Diagnosis Session with Lisa via her assistant Abi: abi@lchwealth.co.uk Correction: At 5:06 Lisa misspoke and said Tom would need 12-24k for 3-6 months of expenses as an emergency fund. She meant to say 6-12k (as in her example he'd have 2k expenses per month).

It's our final episode of 2025! To celebrate, we've brought back the hat to answer your questions. What's been our favourite episode? Which guest completely changed our mind? And would we rather fight a duck-sized bear or a bear-sized duck? Plus, watch out for an incredible reveal from T… enjoy!

Amy is a member of the Making Money audience. Many of us have made mistakes in our investing journey but not everyone is brave enough to come on and tell us about it. This episode was first published in November 2024 If you've had a big financial lesson like Amy and you'd like to share it with us, email our producers Ruth and Emma at ruth@getmost.co.uk

Most of us just want to know one thing: what's the best way to invest? Decades ago, William J. Bernstein had the same question, so he decided to find out. That led him to become an early supporter of the simple, evidence-based approach: keeping costs low, diversifying widely, and not trying to beat the market. It's basically the philosophy behind modern index investing and he shared it through several classic books, including The Four Pillars of Investing.

How To Own The World' was probably the biggest influence on me getting into investing. Its author, Andrew Craig, has now released a new edition tailored for readers under 30 (https://amzn.eu/d/4QqRHdJ). 

Who are the winners and losers of the Budget? What happened to growth? Will the tax changes actually happen? We sat down with Helen Miller, Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) to answer your questions.

Sorry there's no episode for you to get stuck into yet, that's because we're recording a special budget episode with the Director for the Institute of Fiscal Studies, Helen Miller today. We'll be uploading the episode as soon as it is done so stay tuned!

When is it the right time to open a limited company? How should you budget when you're self-employed? And how do you stay as tax-efficient as possible? You sent us your biggest questions about self-employment, so we brought in financial planner and trained accountant Tom Ashworth, who's also helping T set up his own Ltd company, to answer them.  Book a free chat with Tom: https://makingmoney.email/chat-with-tom

Nearly half of working-age people are saving nothing for retirement — so what's gone wrong, and what changes are coming? We sat down with Pensions Minister Torsten Bell at the Pensions UK conference in Manchester to unpack the government's plan.

We're living longer, saving too little, and the state pension's under pressure. So, can we actually afford to retire in the future?  Our favourite pensions expert Tom McPhail joins us to chat through what's changing in the current pension system, what's not, and what it all means for your future.

The ‘AI Bubble'? The ‘Everything Bubble'?...Is the stock market actually overvalued? And what should you do about it? We're in Manchester this week,  joined by local friend of the podcast and YouTuber Toby Newbatt for a deep dive into markets. Curious where all this AI hype is heading? (Don't worry, no robot overlords… yet.) Be one of the first to test our new financial guidance AI: getmost.co.uk/chat

The free market hasn't made us free — that's the case Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz makes in his latest book 'The Road to Freedom'. So how do we fix it?

Maybe being good with money isn't about never making mistakes — it's about learning from them. Jessica McGawley helps ultra-wealthy parents teach their kids about resilience and responsibility — lessons she says every family needs to learn too.

Why aren't we taught about money — and who benefits from keeping it that way? Abigail Foster wants to fix the UK's financial literacy problem. A trained accountant, she's built a massive Instagram following (@abigailrosefoster) and taught over 50,000 schoolchildren through her company Elent. She's now written a book, The Money Manual — but despite working with institutions like HMRC and the Treasury, she's frustrated by how little has actually changed. Be one of the first people to test our new financial guidance AI: https://getmost.co.uk/chat

Are tax rises on the way? With taxes already at record highs but public services still under strain, the government faces tough choices. Helen Miller, the new director of the IFS (Institute for Fiscal Studies), warns that politicians aren't being honest with voters and makes the case for bold tax reform.

Around 70% of people have no retirement plan, and most aren't saving enough, says Joe Dabrowski, Deputy Director of Policy at Pensions UK. They are the people behind the Retirement Living Standards, which outline the annual cost of a minimum, moderate, or comfortable retirement. Here's our pension provider cheat sheet: https://makingmoney.email/pension-cheat-sheet 

What happens if you start investing late? Georgie Frost was in significant debt in her 20s and had only £1,500 in her pension at 31. Now she's Editor-at-Large at Times Money Mentor and one of the hosts of the Daily Mail's This Is Money podcast.

Whenever you see long-term stock market averages quoted, chances are they come from Elroy Dimson's research. Together with Mike Staunton and Paul Marsh, Dimson co-authored The Triumph of the Optimists, the landmark study of 101 years of global investment returns—now expanded to cover more than 125 years of market history. He also helped create the FTSE 100 Index and advised Norway's sovereign wealth fund. So, what does their research tell us about future returns? Can we really trust the numbers? And is American exceptionalism over? Here's our compound calculator: https://makingmoney.email/compound-interest-calculator Here's the video I made that Elroy talks about in the episode: I Analysed 100 Years of Index Funds, This Is What I Found

It's our 100th episode—has the podcast changed how we invest? What was our favourite episode? Who's taller? We're picking your questions out of a hat and answering some from past guests, including Meaningful Money's Pete Matthew and Toby Newbatt.

Is gold a good investment? It recently hit its highest price in real terms since the 1980s, but is it worth it? Ramin Nakisa is host of Pensioncraft and a friend of the podcast.  *We made a small mistake in that episode, 920 is 22 carat not 20!

Are you making the most of your pension? Most people aren't — and it could be costing them thousands. Journalist Alice Guy is former Head of Pensions at Interactive Investor and a qualified chartered accountant. She breaks down how to get the most from your DC pension: from salary sacrifice and tax relief, to checking out how you're invested and boosting your long-term pot.  Here's our pension provider cheat sheet: https://makingmoney.email/pension-cheat-sheet  If you have a DB pension listen to our episode with expert Peter Lawlor: https://makingmoney.email/DB-pensions