Podcasts

Adam Cox is joined by Matt Dronfield, head of the fully-funded debt advice charity Debt Free London, to discuss how the pandemic has affected debt and the worrying trends that are arising from those ignoring debt during the pandemic. They look at the reasons Brits may feel they don’t need to worry about debt right now, and how this may affect them in the future. Matt also gives some great advice for those who want to seek help before they hit a real crunch point.

Saving, spending, planning — you've got money questions and we've got answers. Every week host Alison Southwick and personal finance expert Robert Brokamp challenge the conventional wisdom on life's biggest financial issues to reveal what you really need to know to make smart money moves. In this week's show, Morgan is back to discuss the most important lessons from his book, “The Psychology of Money” – and how they’ve informed the way he manages his family’s finances.

The double dip recession is off. The GDP figures are in for the final three months of 2020 and the UK economy grew by 1%, according to the ONS, despite widespread expectations that it would shrink again. This means that even if the latest – and hopefully last – lockdown shrinks the economy in the first quarter of 2021 then we will avoid the dreaded double-dip – as you need two consecutive quarters of negative growth (forgive the economics speak) for a recession. Of course, we don’t know when this lockdown will end or how heavy an impact it will have on the economy, so what happens in the first half of 2021 is up in the air. But why didn’t GDP fall in the final stretch of last year, is there any way we could we claw our way to growth in the first chunk of this year, and how bad was the coronavirus year of 2020 for the UK? On this week’s podcast, Georgie Frost, George Nixon and Simon Lambert dive into the GDP numbers to take a look at what this all means. Also on the show, are we finally going to see an end to the scam refund lottery from banks for those conned into sending money to fraudsters, George explains what people need to know about that and also the issue of disabled children child trust funds. Plus, why has Tesla bought bitcoin, what does it mean and what on earth is Elon Musk playing at with his crypto tweets at the moment. And finally, should you head for Oxbury Bank – the farmer-focussed lender with a new top savings rate?

Want to keep up with the latest earnings updates from the States? Well join Chris Hill and the Motley Fool Radio Show team here on Share Radio, direct from Washington DC, for news, views and analysis of the US stocks that matter. In this week's show: Disney hits an all-time high as Disney+ reports 95 million subscribers; Dating app Bumble surges 70% in its Wall Street debut; Twitter and Zillow surge on earnings; Affirm Holdings and Cloudflare slip; Electronic Arts buys mobile video game developer Glu Mobile; And Under Armour reports a surprise profit. Motley Fool analysts Emily Flippen and Jason Moser discuss those stories, weigh in on the future of pharmacies, and share two stocks on their radar: Brooks Automation and Unity Software. Plus, Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner shares his thoughts on Amazon’s next CEO, Jeff Bezos’ second act, and how today’s stock market compares to the one 20 years ago.

Adam Cox is joined by butcher and founder of Lamb2Ewe, Thomas Kitchen-Dunn, to look at how there have been increased demands for locally sourced meats amongst consumers and how buying directly from farmers helps to support local economies. They delve into the difference between buying directly from the source and buying from supermarkets, and buying from supermarkets can make it more difficult to know exactly where meat comes from. They discuss the positive environmental impacts of shopping for locally sourced meat and how to support local farmers.

In this week’s episode, we take on the big topic of how we can work together to make leadership, businesses, and investments more environmentally sustainable and socially responsible. We face many challenges – but we believe in the power of collaborative action, and that women represent great hope in driving a more responsible approach to business and investing. 89% of women, as compared 79% of men, want to engage with businesses and investments that are both environmentally and socially responsible – including gender balanced leadership and positive supply chains which protect women and girls. Joining Tamara is Claire Blackwell, Marketing Director of St. James’s Place, and Sian Sutherland, co-founder of A Plastic Planet, to discuss how we as individuals and the finance industry can use our investments to encourage more responsibility and sustainability.

In the absence of open UK cinemas, James Cameron-Wilson looks at the top Australian films of all time. He reviews the steamy Franco-Belgian movie Simple Passion and the Danish movie about alcoholism Another Round, starring Mads Mikkelsen. He gives us some of the highlights from The London Film Critics Circle Awards and laments the demise of Christopher Plummer.

Steve Caplin, Share Radio's technology editor, looks at the change at the top of Amazon (and why Amazon Web Services is so important), at resurrecting the poet Keats, at the Texas lawyer who appeared in court as a virtual cat, at the Valentine's Day curry served to your car, at hydrogen-powered ambulances, at the Norwegian system for zipping different tyres on and off bikes and at new developments with smartphone cameras.

Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University looks at an article which believes that business elites are proposing a form of Stakeholder Capitalism in an attempt to avert revolution over wealth inequalities. He looks at what the government's new reforms could mean for the National Health Service and whether they will succeed in reducing bureaucracy. And he applauds the government reversing its position on extraditions and reclaiming Habeas Corpus rights.

Russ Mould, Investment Director of A J Bell, takes a look back at the markets to see how they have behaved over the year since they first reacted to the approach of the virus. He compares and contrasts the behaviour of stocks sectors and countries before and after Pfizer Monday in November. He believes that investors should consider the current debate over whether inflation is about to return and readjust their portfolio if they do think it's on the way back.