- Simon Lambert looks back as the This is Money Podcast marks a milestone
Ten years ago, This is Money did something a bit different – we launched a podcast.
That doesn’t sound so radical now, and I can’t claim it was totally groundbreaking back then, but it was certainly unusual.
Today is the exact day that the This is Money Podcast celebrates its tenth birthday – we put the first show out on 7 November, 2014.
And producing an episode pretty much every week for a decade feels like something we should celebrate, so please indulge me this column.
Decade of podcast: From Brexit to Budgets, Truss to Trump, the podcast has been on a mission to explain what it means for your finances – with humour, wit and wisdom peppered within
If you’re not already a listener, then please do visit the This is Money Podcast channel, or check us out at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or other platforms and give it a listen.
Every week, we discuss the financial news people need to know about and what it means for you with our brilliant host and producer Georgie Frost.
Our aim is for the podcast to be your guide to a richer life.
Last week’s podcast episode was a prime example, covering Rachel Reeves’ Budget and our verdict on it.
This year, we have also covered the big events, such as rate cuts and the election but also looked at whether being a Nimby is that bad, how we manage our money, financial confidence and done a Steve Webb answers pension questions special.
When we started the podcast, it was also broadcast as a Friday mid-morning show on Share Radio with Georgie.
Little did Georgie and I know back then that we’d still be meeting up every Friday morning a whole ten years later, along with Lee Boyce, Helen Crane, Tanya Jefferies and other members of This is Money team.
And when we sketched out the idea for how the podcast might work, along with some other key architects of the show, Lee, Rachel Rickard Straus, Sam Lane and our much-missed late colleague Richard Browning, neither did any of us realise quite how tumultuous the years ahead would be.
Throughout the podcast’s life, we have seen some momentous events take place: the Brexit vote, Donald Trump’s first presidential election, the Covid lockdowns, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the inflation spike – and now a new Labour government in the UK and Trump’s second election in the US.
We’ll be covering that last one and what it means for your money on the podcast this week.
We owe a big thank you to all of those who have been involved in the podcast over the years.
I won’t list their names for fear of missing someone out, but the episodes have seen a roll call of This is Money team members past and present.
Our sponsors over the years also deserve thanks. Making a free podcast costs money and we’ve had some great associates over the years, who we have carefully chosen because they wanted to work in long-term partnership to deliver a great show.
Investment platform Charles Stanley Direct is the current sponsor and its experts join us for a segment where they answer a listener’s financial planning and investing question each week.
Yesterday, we published a special bonus Budget questions podcast episode, where Charles Stanley’s Rob Morgan joined me to answer what’s come up as the dust settles.
Most of all though – and I know how cheesy this sounds – it’s the This is Money Podcast listeners that I must thank. After all, listeners are the crucial ingredient for a podcast to rack up a decade of success.
We like to think that with the This is Money Podcast we are making a difference, making finance engaging and helping people to live a richer life.
And there is nothing more rewarding than reading the emails and messages we get from podcast listeners telling us how much they enjoy it.
We’ve got some special plans lined up to celebrate the tenth anniversary over the next month and into next year.
So, if you haven’t listened, check out the This is Money Podcast here, and if you do already listen, then thank you very much.