It seems budgeting, saving, and investing are all the rage nowadays, and that everyone’s joining the FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) movement. This is reflected by the increasing popularity of budgeting and trading apps, ETFs (exchange traded funds, baskets of stocks you can invest in to spread your risk), and business news sites.
But who do you turn to to learn the tricks of the trade? How does the economy actually work? How do the financial markets work? Where do you even start with getting your own finances in order? And most importantly: how can you put your money to work in this low to even negative interest environment?
You could turn to a professional financial advisor, a financially literate friend or family member, or read books on the subject, or… you could simply watch YouTube.
Now, YouTube’s got a lot of great content, but probably even more garbage. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of channels for you that are actually sane and educational when it comes to personal finance, investing, and the economy. No rip-offs, and no YouTubers without sound professional expertise giving you stock tips.
Explainers: Personal finance/investing
Two Cents
Two Cents is PBS’s educational personal finance YouTube channel. It offers knowledge on a broad range of subjects: how to save money (e.g. What’s the real cost of a pet?), how to avoid getting scammed, how to deal with the housing market, how to deal with debt, how investing works, and much more.
The Plain Bagel
The Plain Bagel is an educational, investment-focused YouTube channel hosted by financial analyst Richard Coffin. It publishes easy-to-digest, visually rich videos ranging from why investing is important, to how diversification works.
Personal experience
Graham Stephan
Grapham Stephan is one of the, if not the most popular YouTubers when it comes to sharing personal experiences with money. The formula to his success? First of all, his inspiring personal journey to a successful real estate career without any higher education. Secondly, his extreme frugality despite (and also leading to) his financial success. His popularity spiked when he started reacting to CNBC’s Millennial Money videos, in which young professionals share exactly how they earn and spend their money.
Our Rich Journey
On their YouTube channel, Amon and Christina offer you a peak into their life when they were pursuing FIRE — from house hacking to investing their money into ETFs. After they reached that, just shy of the age of 39, they moved to Lisbon with their two children, where the cost of living is lower and living standards are higher than where they lived in the US.
CNBC Make It.
Among other millennial focused formats, the previously mentioned Millennial Money videos are published on the CNBC Make It. channel.
Experts
The Swedish Investor
If you don’t want to read finance books, but still wish to obtain their knowledge, here’s the perfect YouTube channel for you. The Swedish Investor offers visually appealing, easy to follow summaries of the best and most popular books on investment strategies and personal finance, written by the most successful money managers and investors of our time.
WealthTrack
WealthTrack is a nationally syndicated business news program. Journalist Consuelo Mack interviews professional money managers about successful long term investing.
Ben Felix
Portfolio Manager Ben Felix uses historic data and scientific research to convey informed opinions on common sense investing. For beginners, his videos can be a bit overwhelming. But if you like the technicalities around sensible investing and financial decision making, feast away.
The Financial Review
This channel collects insightful, old fragments from legendary investors such as Warren Buffett, Jack Bogle, and Peter Lynch.
Explainers: Economy
Economics Explained
If you’re keen to learn what is driving the economy of specific countries around the world, Economics Explained is your go-to channel.
CNBC International
Another channel managed by CNBC, this one covers the stories behind the headlines, mainly diving deeper into macro-economic trends, among other subjects.
Daily news
CNBC Television
If the stock market is your equivalent of a gossip magazine, then tune into CNBC’s other YouTube channel, with highlights from their actual TV programming. As long as you know that it’s mainly focused on short-term developments, and you don’t take each headline as investment advice, feel free to watch it.
Bloomberg Markets and Finance
Similar to the previous channel, with the major difference that Bloomberg is more focused on the global economy. Bloomberg is a bit more stiff but also more substantive than CNBC.
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