Two Open University academics on a quest to urge people to indulge in daily ‘financial nutrition’ have released a podcast series to provide exactly that.
Their ‘Financial Five-a-Day’ podcast is a series of interviews with financial experts, who have excelled in their field.
They share their expert tips to help ignite a rethink in the way everyone approaches their spending, saving and investment habits.
Reforming spending habits
Today, UK rental properties cost an average of £1,220 per month, according to Zoopla, and the average home is now £263,900, out of reach for many people unless they can change their income or spending habits.
Professor George Callaghan and Senior Lecturer Dr Martin Higginson, both experts in Economics and Personal Finance at the OU, are hoping the podcasts will help people navigate not just their immediate financial future but one that looks much further ahead – towards a comfortable retirement.
Financial educators
The podcasts are being hosted on the OU’s free education platform OpenLearn, Spotify and Apple podcast platforms and include experts well-known in their field such as Alvin Hall, financial educator and broadcaster, who Generation X will recall from a BBC Series ‘Your Money or your Life’.
Professor George Callaghan
George said:
“These are the most challenging times for 40 years for households. Now we live in a world where a pint of milk costs in excess of 65p, in 2020 it was about 35p, and this kind of price increase has not been experienced for a generation.
“It’s a climate where people saving for their futures are having more and more of their disposable income consumed by eye-watering rental payments and many have given up on owning property that could give them the security they yearn in later life. Adjusting your thinking to how you spend money on a daily basis can be transformational.”
Dr Martin Higginson
Martin said:
“These podcasts are designed to make people take a long hard look at how they are using their money and many of our interviewees say that knowing what you want your life to look like as a mature adult is the key.
“This is vital because it dictates what you might buy, how you might save or invest, and how you might approach debt.
“The podcasts are full of tips that you can adopt and they challenge people to contemplate what their end goal is going to look like and whether they want their money to work for them, rather than they work for money.”
The ‘Financial Five-a-Day’ research forms part of the OU’s Open Societal Challenges Programme, which aims to tackle some of the most important societal challenges of our time through impact-driven research that will transform lives and drive societal change.
