Let's Talk Money with Monika Halan

In this episode, Monika reflects on returning from Berlin and explains why she still believes India is one of the best places to live despite its many shortcomings. From responsive customer service and quick healthcare to UPI, home deliveries, affordable domestic help, and thriving consumer services, she shares ten everyday conveniences that make life in India remarkably easy. While acknowledging...

In this episode, Monika reflects on her own journey through the Indian stock market, beginning with the boom-and-bust years surrounding the Harshad Mehta scam in the early 1990s, when speculation, stock tips, and market euphoria repeatedly lured retail investors into buying high and selling low. She explains how the Indian mutual fund industry gradually transformed investing by introducing the Sys...

In this episode, Monika introduces what she calls the Three Pool Retirement Strategy — a framework she personally uses to think about retirement and one that aims to replace anxiety with clarity. Ahead of a brief break while travelling to Berlin, she addresses one of the biggest worries people have about retirement: not necessarily building the corpus, but managing it after work stops. Rather than...

In this episode, Monika examines two important developments that shaped the economic conversation over the past week: the Reserve Bank of India’s decision to keep the repo rate unchanged at 5.25%, and India’s strong FY26 GDP growth of 7.7%, with the fourth quarter growing at 7.8%. She explains how the RBI’s inflation-targeting framework and relatively low inflation of 3.1% have given policymakers...

In this episode, Monika takes listeners inside a recent meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the newly inaugurated Kartavya Bhavan. What begins as a visit to present the latest editions and translations of her books becomes a broader reflection on policymaking, public service, and the government's focus on financial consumer protection. She shares her impressions of the transiti...

In this episode, Monika responds to the atmosphere of fear and panic spreading through everyday financial conversations — from rumours about banks collapsing to people withdrawing savings based on WhatsApp forwards and social media anxiety. Using history as her anchor, she makes a powerful argument that nations do not simply “roll over and die.” Companies fail, markets crash, governments stumble —...

In this episode, Monika unpacks the growing inflation pressures quietly building beneath the economy and explains why the recent ₹3 fuel price hike is likely only the beginning of a longer and more uncomfortable adjustment cycle. She breaks down the widening gap between wholesale inflation and consumer inflation, showing how the government and oil companies had been absorbing massive fuel losses f...

In this episode, Monika explores an often-overlooked truth about wealth: the more complicated your financial life becomes, the more it quietly steals from your time, energy, and peace of mind. Through the story of a retired couple overwhelmed by scattered properties, multiple advisors, fragmented investments, and endless financial maintenance, she explains how complexity masquerades as sophisticat...

In this episode, Monika takes on the rising buzz around international investing and challenges a widely accepted idea — that global diversification is essential for everyone. She explains how the recent excitement around US markets, driven by the performance of companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia, has led many Indian investors to equate “going global” with smarter investing. Breaking down...

In this episode, Monika Halan unpacks the transformative potential of India’s Account Aggregator framework and why it could fundamentally change the way individuals control and share their financial data. Using everyday examples—from applying for loans to visa documentation—she explains how the traditional system forces people to repeatedly hand over sensitive financial records with little visibil...

In this episode, Monika Halan simplifies one of the most misunderstood parts of personal finance—bonds and debt funds. She explains that a bond is essentially an “IOU,” where governments or companies borrow money and promise to pay interest along with the principal at maturity. Breaking down concepts like coupon, maturity, and face value, she highlights the single most important rule of the bond m...

In this episode, Monika Halan addresses growing concerns about whether current global tensions could push us back into Covid-like conditions. While she reassures listeners that a repeat of such extreme disruption is unlikely, she emphasizes that the economic impact of global conflict is already being felt. Using simple explanations, she breaks down how rising oil prices, a weakening rupee, and shi...

In this episode, Monika uses a simple but powerful analogy to explain why a bank is fundamentally different from any ordinary business. Unlike a biscuit factory, whose failure has limited impact, a bank operates on trust and interconnected flows of money through the system - what economists call the money multiplier. When that trust breaks, it can trigger a bank run, spreading panic across the ent...

In this episode, Monika reflects on a memorable session with teenage students at a Delhi school, where seemingly simple questions led to profound insights about money, discipline, and life choices. She explains the core idea of “making money work for you” through the power of compounding, emphasizing that wealth is built not just by earning but by allowing investments to grow over time. The discus...

As geopolitical tensions escalate and markets react sharply, Monika connects the dots between global conflict and personal finance, reminding listeners that volatility is an inherent part of equity investing. Using recent market corrections as a backdrop, she explains how different parts of the market respond to stress — with small and mid caps falling more sharply than large caps — and why seemin...

As India’s revised GDP numbers are released with a new base year of 2022–23, Monika unpacks the deeper story hidden beneath the headline growth print. She explains how the economy continues to grow at a stable rate above 7%, driven on the production side by manufacturing and services, and supported on the expenditure side by household savings and government capital expenditure. While consumption r...

As complaints of insurance mis-selling by banks finally prompt regulatory action, Monika examines the Reserve Bank of India’s draft Responsible Business Conduct guidelines and what they could mean for customers. The proposed rules aim to require suitability assessments, explicit consent, and restrictions on coercive sales practices, signalling a shift toward holding banks accountable for putting c...

As India updates the way it measures inflation, Monika explains why the revision of the Consumer Price Index base year from 2012 to 2024 matters and what it really means for households. Drawing on new data from the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey, she breaks down how the CPI basket evolves over time to reflect changing consumption patterns — from the decline of outdated products to the ri...

As global trade tensions reshape the economic landscape, Monika unpacks what India’s recent wave of trade agreements really means. Triggered in part by sharp tariff actions and the growing use of trade as a geopolitical weapon, India has moved quickly to diversify its export markets and reduce dependence on any single partner. This episode explains, in simple terms, how tariffs, free trade agreeme...

As Budget 2026 unfolds, Monika frames it as a continuation budget - a work-in-progress focused less on headline reforms and more on keeping the economic machinery running smoothly. With pressure on the fiscal deficit after last year’s tax relief and GST cuts, the big concern was whether the numbers would hold. Despite weak nominal growth and a low GDP deflator, higher corporate taxes, indirect tax...

As the podcast reaches Episode 100, Monika reflects on how what began as a small experiment has grown into a steady, non-hysterical space for building real financial stability. Over two years, 100 episodes, and hundreds of listener questions, clear patterns have emerged - money decisions are rarely just about numbers. This milestone episode distils the journey into ten core lessons, drawn from rea...

As Episode 99 approaches a milestone, Monika reflects on how small, steady savings can quietly turn powerful when inflation works in the saver’s favour. Beginning with an interaction at an SBI event for NRI clients - and a reminder of how deeply connected the podcast community has become - she introduces the idea of real return: what investors actually earn after inflation. This episode explains w...

As the new year unfolds, Monika turns her attention to a deeper structural problem in India’s retail finance ecosystem — a market where households are still expected to fend for themselves against complex, opaque, and often mis-sold products. Drawing from her interaction at a pre-Budget discussion with the Prime Minister and insights from the RBI’s Financial Stability Report 2025, she lays out why...

As 2026 begins, Monika reflects on how our relationship with money changes over a lifetime, moving beyond year-end numbers, market levels, or growth forecasts. This episode takes a philosophical turn, using the idea of life’s ashrams to frame our money journey — from learning and earning to harvesting and eventual detachment. Monika explores the paradox of money: when we are young, desires are end...

As 2025 draws to a close, Monika invites listeners to pause and take stock of their financial lives with a simple but powerful money report card. Using a series of clear yes-or-no questions, this episode walks through the absolute basics of money management — cash-flow systems, emergency funds, insurance, debt control, savings discipline, asset allocation, retirement planning, and the importance o...