Best of Money Clinic: The financial advice we’d give to Barbie

How does one double a sizeable portfolio in under a decade? The short answer is by taking more investment risk - and in today’s episode one of the FT’s most experienced investment columnists weighs up the potential risks.  Stuart Kirk has set an ambitious financial goal to hit ahead of his 60th birthday — growing his portfolio from just over £500,000 today to £1mn by 2032.  Will he be persuaded to take a punt on flashy US tech stocks, dabble in alternative investments such as private equity, go for gold, or even gamble with cryptocurrency? In the edited highlights from the FT Weekend Festival in London, host Claer Barrett invites Stuart to present his portfolio to the FT Money tent, before taking a grilling from inquisitive FT subscribers in the audience. For more tips on how to organise your money, sign up to Claer's email series 'Sort Your Financial Life Out With Claer Barrett' at FT.com/moneycourse Money Clinic will be back in 2025 with new episodes. If you would like to be a guest on a future episode of Money Clinic, email us at money@ft.com or send Claer a DM on social media — she’s @ClaerB on X, Instagram and TikTok.  Want more? Read Stuart Kirk’s recent Skin in the game columns, When will emerging stocks finally emerge?, The best way to invest in gold, and more Listen to Claer and Stuart’s viral mini podcast episode, The Five Minute Investor from Money Clinic: What is a PE ratio? Check out Claer’s column, What’s the chancellor’s next move going to be with my pension?  Listen to more episodes of Money Clinic, such as Investment Masterclass: The hunt for global growth stocks, Investment Masterclass: The case for investing in AI, and more. Presented by Claer Barrett. Produced by Tamara Kormornick. Our executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Sound design by Breen Turner, with original music from Metaphor Music. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s global head of audio. Disclaimer: The Money Clinic podcast is a general discussion about financial topics and does not constitute an investment recommendation or individual financial advice. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘If you can tell a good story,’ says Morgan Housel, ‘you’ll get people to line up and listen to you.’ In this episode of Money Clinic, Morgan shares some of those stories with host Claer Barrett and challenges us to think differently about our attitude to wealth and wealth creation. This episode is a repeat of a Money Clinic first published in January 2024. More information on Morgan Housel and his books: https://www.morganhousel.com/ Follow Claer on social media @Claerb  Presented by Claer Barrett. Produced by Philippa Goodrich. Our executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Sound design by Breen Turner, with original music from Metaphor Music. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s global head of audio. Read the transcript of this episode which was first aired in January 2024 on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With a £22bn ‘black hole’ in the public finances, the new chancellor Rachel Reeves has difficult decisions to make ahead of Labour’s autumn Budget next month. How might this hole be plugged, and where might tax rises land? In this episode, Dan Neidle, founder of think-tank Tax Policy Associates and former head of tax at Clifford Chance, considers which tax-raising levers the chancellor might pull on October 30, and puts forward a case for fairer, growth-focused tax policy. For more tips on how to organise your money, sign up to Claer's email series 'Sort Your Financial Life Out With Claer Barrett' at FT.com/moneycourse If you would like to be a guest on a future episode of Money Clinic, email us at money@ft.com or send Claer a DM on social media — she’s @ClaerB on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.  Want more? Check out Claer’s column, What’s the chancellor’s next move going to be with my pension?  Listen to more episodes of Money Clinic, such as What will the UK election mean for your money?, Isa season: how to build tax-free wealth, and more. Presented by Claer Barrett. Produced by Tamara Kormornick with help from Mischa Frankl-Duvall. Our executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Sound design by Breen Turner, with original music from Metaphor Music. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s global head of audio. Disclaimer: The Money Clinic podcast is a general discussion about financial topics and does not constitute an investment recommendation or individual financial advice. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In an increasingly cashless society, how can parents ensure children learn healthy financial habits? In this episode, host Claer Barrett speaks to Sheila Bair, author of the Money Tales children’s book series and former chair of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, about instilling children with sensible attitudes to money - and reveals details of her next book, How Not to Lose a Million Dollars.  For a chance to win a pair of Bose QuietComfort 35 Wireless Headphones, share your thoughts on the show with us via a short survey before August 29 2024 (terms and conditions can be found here). For more tips on how to organise your money, sign up to Claer's email series 'Sort Your Financial Life Out With Claer Barrett' at FT.com/moneycourse If you would like to be a guest on a future episode of Money Clinic, email us at money@ft.com or send Claer a DM on social media — she’s @ClaerB on Instagram and TikTok. Want more? Check out Claer’s column, Widowed pensioners ‘could be owed thousands’ in UK state pension. Listen to more episodes, such as How can I cut the cost of my insurance cover?, Can financial therapy change our relationship with money?, and more. Presented by Claer Barrett. Produced by Tamara Kormornick. Our executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco, with original music from Metaphor Music. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When FT columnist Miranda Green lost her father, she expected the grief to be long-lived. What she didn’t expect was that she would still be attempting to settle her father's financial affairs nearly a year later with multiple calls to banks, building societies, insurers and utility companies.  In an episode which first aired last September, Miranda tells presenter Claer Barrett about her experiences dealing with inconsiderate call handlers and poor processes in the private sector. Claer puts Miranda’s concerns to Eric Leenders, the director of personal finance at UK Finance, the trade body that represents about 300 financial services organisations. What are they doing to address the problem?  Want more?  Listen to the second part of this series, Help! My parents are being targeted by scammers Read Miranda Green’s article for free: Sadmin - the side hustle nobody wants Services mentioned in the podcast:  https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/organisations-you-need-to-contact-and-tell-us-once https://www.mylostaccount.org.uk https://www.deathnotificationservice.co.uk For more tips on how to organise your money, sign up to Claer's email series 'Sort Your Financial Life Out With Claer Barrett' at FT.com/moneycourse If you would like to be a guest on a future episode of Money Clinic, email us at money@ft.com or send Claer a DM on social media — she’s @ClaerB on Instagram and TikTok. Want more? Check out Claer’s column, Widowed pensioners ‘could be owed thousands’ in UK state pension. Listen to more episodes, such as How can I cut the cost of my insurance cover?, Can financial therapy change our relationship with money?, and more. Presented by Claer Barrett. Produced by Philippa Goodrich and Laurence Knight. Our executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco, with original music from Metaphor Music. Read the transcript of this episode which was first aired last September on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.