The Retirement Café Podcast

I was excited to chat once again with Behavior Gap author and financial storyteller Carl Richards about the ideas behind his brand-new book, Your Money and 101 Other Things That Matter .   Carl's famous hand-drawn sketches have helped millions simplify complex financial concepts — but beneath the simplicity lies profound wisdom about living a meaningful, values-driven life. Together, we explore ho...

I always love catching up with my good friend and fellow financial planner Pete Matthew—especially when we get to record it for The Retirement Café Podcast . You may have heard Pete on the podcast before (this is his third appearance!) or seen him on his hugely popular Meaningful Money YouTube channel. We've even swapped mics—I've joined his show twice too! We both share a mission: helping people...

Are you worried about the future of your wealth? You're not alone. Sweeping reforms to pensions, inheritance tax, business relief, and agricultural relief are coming in 2026 and 2027 — and they could have a major impact on your estate and the legacy you leave behind. In this must-listen episode of The Retirement Café Podcast, I'm joined by Lucy Obrey, Partner and Head of Private Client at Higgs LL...

Dr. Daniel Crosby is a psychologist, behavioural finance expert, and New York Times bestselling author, who joins me to discuss his latest book, The Soul of Wealth.  Dr. Crosby, known for his groundbreaking insights into how psychological factors influence financial decisions, shares how his book explores the balance between monetary wealth and what he calls "soulful wealth"—the richness found in...

George Kinder is a friend, mentor and widely recognised as the Father of the Financial Life Planning movement. For over 30 years, George has trained thousands of financial advisers from 30 countries in life planning, which enables them to help deliver freedom into their clients' lives. George has published seven books, and central to most is this concept of freedom. His most recent book The Three...

I'm thrilled to have with us a guest whose work has profoundly shaped the way we think about time, productivity, and living a meaningful life. Oliver Burkeman is a renowned British journalist, author, and former columnist for The Guardian, best known for his groundbreaking book 4,000 Weeks, Time Management for Mortals. I loved this book and am honoured that Oliver joined me to share his story and...

Approaching retirement and frustrated with her job, Siobhan Daniels made a big decision: to start living life on her own terms. Rather than feeling broken, voiceless and hiding from life's challenges, she took early retirement, swapped her possessions for a motorhome, and drove off to find them. Since that day five years ago, Siobhan has published a book she called Retirement Rebel: One woman, one...

Today, we're diving into the perplexing topic of why more people don't buy annuities to provide a guaranteed income in retirement, and who better to have this conversation with than Billy Burrows. 
 Billy is a highly regarded financial adviser with over 30 years' experience and founder of the Retirement Planning Project which aims to make it easier for people to get information and help on all asp...

I'm delighted to welcome back Jacqueline Berry, a regular guest celebrated for her passion for making the UK's care system easier to navigate.  Jacqueline is the founding director of My Care Consultant, a market-leader in helping people navigate the care system, and she is a fountain of knowledge in all things care related. in episode 40 she explained the fundamentals of the UK care system and ret...

Do you believe you can heal faster just by tricking your brain? Could you lose weight with only a change of mindset? 
 Could you think yourself into being younger? 
 Can the power of your thoughts defy ageing? In short, have you ever wondered if you could improve your health by harnessing the power of your mind? When it comes to our health, too many of us feel trapped by a medical diagnosis, belie...

Hello and welcome – today I have the pleasure of sharing a fascinating conversation I had with Professor Paul Dolan – who's maybe better known as the Professor of Happiness.  Paul is a behavioural scientist, advisor to the government and currently Professor of Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He's published 41 peer reviewed articles and been cited more t...

📘 My new book The Retirement Café Handbook - Nine Accelerators for a Successful Retirement, is out now! Get ready for a format twist this week on the podcast as I switch roles from host to guest. I'm absolutely thrilled to introduce none other than the incredible Pete Matthew, a dear friend and fellow Chartered Financial Planner, who's taking the reins as my guest host. Now, if the world of perso...

📘 The wait is finally over! My much-anticipated book, The Retirement Café Handbook - Nine Accelerators for a Successful Retirement, is now available to pre-order on Amazon! To explore some of the key themes I am bringing back to the podcast a true maestro of understanding human behaviour and the mind-bending world of advertising - none other than Rory Sutherland, the ingenious UK Vice Chairman of...

Pre-order my new book 'The Retirement Café Handbook – Nine Accelerators for a Successful Retirement': https://amzn.to/3Q686I8 In this week's podcast, Dr Martin Hyde is making getting old sexy. Martin is a renowned gerontologist. In our conversation we delve into what being a gerontologist actually means, and Martin debunks the misconception that studying older individuals is uninteresting or unins...

James Elliott is a psychotherapist and resilience coach. Using his 14 years in the British Army's Airborne Forces developing skills in resilience to empower people to tackle a variety of challenges, he works with people ranging from professional athletes to politicians. In our conversation James provides insight into how a loss of identity – either as a soldier or as a CEO – can be the hardest thi...

Reading is a huge passion of mine as I am really interested in the insight of others. I love to learn about people's stories and their lives.  I'm driven to read due to a fascination of people's journeys. In this episode I am sharing with you my must reads for this summer, in my view these books are interesting, insightful and provide much food for thought – I hope you will agree! I have also sugg...

As a highly regarded financial adviser and an industry expert with over 30 years' experience, Billy Burrows first joined me in 2019 to chat about all things to do with annuities.    Since we last spoke the annuity landscape has changed significantly and has become harder to beat as a solution for pension income.  So, I welcome Billy back to talk about the pros and cons of buying an annuity versus...

This is an information-packed episode! Kurt is a Partner at Lester Aldridge solicitors based in their Bournemouth office and heads up the Tax, Trusts, Wills and Probate team. Kurt was my first ever podcast guest at the Retirement Café back in 2018 and this is his third appearance. Today we are exploring tax and estate planning and how you can plan ahead in your retirement. In our conversation we c...

Chatting to me today is Dr Ben Hicks, Research Fellow at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. I first met Ben 5 years ago and invited him to be on the panel of one of our first Retirement Café events. Back then he was working hard to change the perception that dementia is no longer a death sentence in his role as psychologist and researcher with Bournemouth University Dementia Institute. Although d...

The FCA has issued a warning about the mismanagement of Asset Protection Trust Schemes. They're concerned about the number of firms mis selling trusts on behalf of Trustees who don't understand what they're invested in or what benefits the trusts actually provide.   Asset Protection Trusts are trusts into which you typically transfer assets, often including your home, during your lifetime. Some pe...

Laura Black successfully climbed the corporate ladder to become a successful attorney. When retirement hit, her descent down that same ladder was marked by loss and marginalization. She no longer possessed the CEO status she placed so much of her worth in, her children fled the nest for lives of their own, and she had to cope with the decline and eventual deaths of her parents. Plus, well, aging,...

In this episode Kathy & Justin chat about the important changes to the lifetime allowance announced in the Chancellor's budget in March. It's fair to say that the extent of the changes has taken the financial advice sector by surprise. It was widely anticipated that the lifetime allowance would be increased, but not fully abolished. We aim to clear up any confusion about what this latest change to...

I want to help my clients make the best possible decisions about their financial future, so over the years I've done a lot of research into how to make smart decisions. I'd like to share some of the insight I've gathered in this podcast. The topic of decision making is vast, so I'm going to focus on one specific set of tools which I feel are incredibly powerful – that's Mental Models. I first came...

Robin Wigglesworth is editor of FT Alphaville, the Financial Times' financial blog, where he focuses on the biggest trends reshaping markets, investing and finance across the world. Robin is also the author of a book called ' Trillions – How a Band of Wall Street Renegades Invented The Index Fund and changed Finance Forever '. It's been described as the definitive book on the past, present and fut...

Have you ever wondered how to go about tackling the tricky subject of getting older with loved ones who are doing just that?  How to start those taboo conversations about whether dad should hang up his driving gloves, or what happens when an elderly friend or relative become incapable of living alone?  Then this episode is for you. My guest, geriatrician Dr Lucy Pollock's speciality and passion is...