I’ve decided that I need to do a roundup of ‘what caught my eyes’, but I’m going to do it in video format because I need to stretch my multi-media producing skills. You’ll find the following video, hopefully, handy.
You can download the video here.
Links to the articles in this video:
Should You Debt Snowball Directly into a Savings Account?
There’s a slight chance that you’ll watch the video and laugh. Or be jealous that the Estes Park area is beautiful - pay cash and go visit Estes Park, CO.
This podcast is about how credit cards are not a great choice for most people most of the time.
In this third (and long delayed installment) of the Watch My Money Maker Podcast we’ll cover the issues of your nest egg. The end is a super sped up version of a song my band played in high school 
The Nest Egg File is 12 MB and requires iTunes or Quicktime.
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: 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.
I interviewed a buddy, “John” who was willing to talk to me about a bout with “Pay-Day” loans and lessons learned. Check out the audio podcast to learn more.
Pay Day Loans 4.5MB requires iTunes or Quicktime to listen to.
While I’ll admit to having had a wee bit of fun with this podcast, its a serious concept that every Christian needs to grasp. God doesn’t just give us stuff and take stuff away, the real passion of His heart is intimate relationship with Him.
God Giveth & Taketh Away is 6.5MB in size and requires iTunes or Quicktime to view.
Continuing on the series of things I wish I learned as a teenager, I’ve got a video expounding on the first point. The rest of this week I’ll be spending time focusing on the Credit Rate Reduction Rally, but I created this last week. Give this video a watch and chime in on your own ‘rotting’ habits.
Stuff Rots is 10MB in size - requires iTunes or Quicktime.
