Investoid

I’ve listened to a few episodes of Vanguard’s Plain Talk on Investing. It is a bi-weekly show that covers basic topics for investing and retirement. The shows last 10 – 15 minutes, and usually have a host who interviews an expert from Vanguard or another firm on a particular topic.

I have found the podcasts to be concise and informative, although they are geared towards relative novices. A lot of the advice is specfically for American investors, so while the general principles transfer over, the tax and government program information is not useful for those who live outside of their borders.

For those of you looking to gain an understanding of the fundamentals regarding saving for retirement in a prudent manner, I would suggest you listen to:

• Why investment costs matter
• Achieving financial security fore retirement
• Bond funds: What you need to know
• Basic retirement withdrawal strategies
• The most important decision you can make (it’s about asset allocation)
• How much should I save for retirement

In the saving for retirement podcast, they suggest a minimum 10% saving rate. For the frugal savers out there, they will no doubt argue this is too low, but for many people I think this is a good starting point if they are used to spending 100% of their monthly net income.

Overall, I think it’s worth picking through the episodes to find topics that are of interest and relevance to you, but you don’t need to listen to every podcast.