Name: NPR’s The Color of Money
Host(s): Michelle Singletary, various interviewers of Michelle
Podcast file type(s): MP3
Average File Size(s): 2.1MB
Average Length: 4 minutes
Format (single concept, multiple concepts, multi-format): Single Concept
Production Quality (excellent, good, acceptable, bad): Excellent
Type of Content (practical content, philosophical content): practical content
Site URL: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?columnId=4465062
Feed URL(s): http://www.npr.org/rss/rss.php?id=4465062
Subjective Review:
I really dig this podcast.  Its long enough to feel like more than a sound bite, but short enough to not feel like a commitment of a half hour or more.  Michelle’s passion for personal finance and dynamic in her voice make the podcast engaging.  The content is relatively practical for many home owning people, and if you have older parents or are considering getting older (I kid), the podcasts I listened to specifically would be useful.  This one is going to remain subscribed to.

Context: I listened to four podcast episodes on 1/31/2008: 1/8/2008, 1/15/2008, 1/22/2008, 1/29/2008.

Name: Money Minute
Host(s): Lindsay Davis, Betsy Stark, others
podcast file type(s): MP3
Average File Size(s): 460kb
Average Length: one minute, eight seconds
Format (single concept, multiple concepts, multi-format): Single Concept
Production Quality (excellent, good, acceptable, bad): good
Type of Content (practical content, philosophical content): mixed
Site URL: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/
Feed URL(s): http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=85744881 [again, ABC's entire podcasting section makes no mention of this, so this link works for iTunes only]
Subjective Review:
I hate it when news sources create ‘practical advice’. It just falls short and ends up being sensationalist. What I really want is practical advice and don’t wrap it in ‘end of the world’ sound bites. I listened to these four short podcast bits and am determined to keep moving on to find other podcasts worth my time and your time. This one just lacks content quality. There is some good advice in this podcast, but you have to put on your rubber boots, rain slicker, and heavy gloves to battle the acid rain of generalizations and extreme statements that come with this little podcast. I would not recommend it for the average person.

Context: I listened to the following dated podcasts on 1/30/2008: 1/24/2008, 1/25/2008, 1/28/2008, 1/29/2008.

Note: This podcast may be defunct seeing as there have been no new episodes since September.  However, David’s name is well known and there is a good chance people will respect his advice if the show comes back online.

Name:David Bach’s FinishRich Minute
Host(s): David Bach
podcast file type(s): mp3
Average File Size(s): 1MB
Average Length: 1 minute
Format (single concept, multiple concepts, multi-format): single concept
Production Quality (excellent, good, acceptable, bad): excellent
Type of Content (practical content, philosophical content): practical content starting with an advertisement and then giving a short bit
Site URL: http://www.finishrich.com/db_minisite/finishrichminute.php
Feed URL(s): http://www.bigcontact.com/finishrichminute/rss
Subjective Review:
David’s material is well known, but I have somehow never really read his material.  The concept behind these podcasts is to give people a short little tidbit of financial advice so that they can do something quick and hopefully accomplish something in a financially savvy way.  The shortness of this material makes it hard for me to recommend.  Sure, a short podcast is easier to follow than a longer podcast, but I prefer a bit more depth.  Each podcast also pitches another product from David that costs money.  This is more about advertising than it is about your real personal finance well being.

Context:  I listened to four podcasts dated from 9/25/2007, 9/27/2007, another 9/27/2007 and 10/1/2007 on 1/29/2008

Name: The Wall Street Journal Love and Money
Host(s): Jeff & Amy Opdyke
Podcast file type(s): MP4
Average File Size(s):47MB
Average Length: 4 minutes
Format (single concept, multiple concepts, multi-format): Conversational discussion between a husband and wife about their family’s personal finances
Production Quality (excellent, good, acceptable, bad): good
Type of Content (practical content, philosophical content): Practical content
Site URL: http://online.wsj.com/public/us
Feed URL(s): http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=213097337 [I couldn't find a regular site feed URL, apologies non-iTunes users]
Subjective Review:
There’s nothing like a husband and wife discussing finances together to make me smile. There is a reality to this video podcast as if the two involved are not scripted, but instead honestly discussing things. The back and forth video content is somewhat visually jarring at times, but is not so distracting that I feel put off by it. I can definitely see myself watching this bi-monthly podcast in the future - I’m staying subscribed. Not all of the content applies to my life (which is probably typical of any personal finance content: its personal), but the sincerity of the hosts makes this a very watchable video podcast. Jeff ends several of the podcasts with, “Bye, Ames,” which just closes the podcast off with a familiarity after only a few watches.

My favorite episode by far was the 12/21 episode discussing school fund raisers and the parents involvement. I side with Jeff

Context: The following dated podcasts were viewed/listened to 1/25/2008, 1/18/2008, 1/4/2008, 12/21 on 1/29/2008

Name: American Public Marketplace
Host(s): Kai Ryssdal
Podcast file type(s): MP3
Average File Size(s): 13.3MB
Average Length: 28 minutes
Format (single concept, multiple concepts, multi-format): Multiple concepts: introduction summary, news summary, news segments
Production Quality (excellent, good, acceptable, bad): Excellent
Type of Content (practical content, philosophical content): This is a radio show being re-used as a podcast
Site URL: http://www.marketplace.org
Feed URL(s): http://marketplace.publicradio.org/tools/rss/rundown.php?show_id=14
Subjective Review:

This podcast/radio show is only partially oriented towards personal finance. The subject matter tends to vary between business news, personal finance influencing news, and world market news. Its not a podcast for the person looking for very practical day-to-day information, but instead is good for the person trying to keep a big picture view on world financial news. I don’t really enjoy this sort of news program on a personal level because some of the recorded story bits included audio clips and sound bites with no context. It made the credibility of the assertions a little lower to me.

The audio clips between the different segments had some nice music, but that’s probably not the best reason to listen to a financially oriented podcast. A few of the audio segments carried some political persuasion and I would caution various listeners to be discerning if they subscribe.

Context: I listened to the following dated shows: 01/25/2008, 01/24/2008, 01/23/2008, 01/22/2008 in one day.