Personal Finance With Molly
What if the biggest obstacle to your financial success isn't your income — it's your mind?
Personal Finance With Molly is the podcast where money, mindset, and behavior intersect. Each week, I, Molly, break down the psychology behind your financial decisions, helping you understand why you spend, save, and invest the way you do — and how to make smarter choices starting today.
From unpacking cognitive biases that quietly drain your wallet to exploring the emotional patterns behind debt and wealth-building, this show turns behavioral finance research into real, actionable guidance for everyday people.
Whether you're just starting your financial journey or looking to break habits that have held you back for years, Personal Finance With Molly gives you the tools to rewire your relationship with money — one episode at a time.
Subscribe, and start thinking differently about your finances.
Episodes
78 episodes
Part 4 of 4: Meet the Escape Artist: Designing the Freedom You've Been Dreaming About
Series: The Four Money Archetypes (Part 4 of 4, series finale)What if your urge to spend, dream, or get away is really a message about what you want more of? In the final episode of our four-part archetype series, I introduce ...
Part 3 of 4: Meet the Guardian: Generosity That Includes You
Series: The Four Money Archetypes (Part 3 of 4)Are you the person everyone calls, and the last person you'd think to call? In part three of our four-part archetype series, I introduce the Guardian: the generous, dependable ...
Part 2 of 4: Meet the Outsider: Pulling Up Your Own Chair at the Money Table
Series: The Four Money Archetypes (Part 2 of 4)Ever feel like everyone else got a money handbook you never received? In part two of our four-part archetype series, I introduce the Outsider: the observant, capable person who...
Part 1 of 4: Meet the Survivor
Meet the Survivor: Turning Hard-Won Instincts into Financial EaseSeries: The Four Money Archetypes (Part 1 of 4)Episode descriptionYour money instincts didn't come from nowhere, and they're smarter than...
New Chapter, Same Bank Account: Rewriting Your Money Story
Ever notice how you can recite your money history like a movie trailer? "I'm the one who never gets ahead." "I'm just not a numbers person." "Money makes people selfish, and I refuse to be that." We didn't invent these lines — we inherited them...
Everybody's Doing It: Why Your Brain Loves a Financial Stampede
Ever bought something — a stock, a stand mixer, a hot tub — mostly because it felt like everyone else already had one? You're not weak-willed. You're a highly evolved primate running very old software. This week on Personal Finance With Molly, ...
The $40,000 Raise That Changed Nothing
The Raise You Never Actually Got: Why Your Bank Account Feels the Same (Or Worse) at Every Income LevelEpisode DescriptionYou got the raise. You got the bonus. You got the big win. So why does your bank account still...
The 2-Second Money Habit That Changes Everything
Episode SummaryWillpower is unreliable — especially by the end of a long day. This episode explores habit stacking, a behavior-change technique that attaches a new money habit to an existing automatic routine so it runs on autopilot inst...
The Illusion of Control: How to Trust Yourself With Money — the Smart Way
You're not as in control as you think — and that's actually okay. In this episode of Personal Finance With Molly, we're unpacking two of the most fascinating and financially costly cognitive biases: the Illusion of Control and Overcon...
Her Money, Her Way: The Psychology Behind How Women Save, Spend, and Build Wealth
Episode OverviewThis episode explores the behavioral finance forces that shape how women relate to money — from the money messages absorbed in childhood, to the psychological patterns that influence saving, investing, and negotiat...
Are We In a Loop? How Thoughts, Feelings, and Money Habits Feed Each Other
Episode OverviewEver wonder why you keep doing the money things you swore you'd stop doing? In this episode, we dig into the CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) framework to show you exactly how your thoughts, feelings, and behavio...
From the Inside Out: How Your Emotional Life Powers Your Financial Life
Episode SummaryIn this episode, we explore the powerful and often underestimated connection between mental health and financial decision-making. Drawing on behavioral economics, neuroscience, and financial therapy research, we bre...
Why Your Next Raise Won't Make You Happy (And What Will)
Episode Description: You worked hard for that promotion. You earned the raise. So why does it feel like... not enough? In this episode, we dig into one of the most powerful — and most overlooked — forces in personal finance: the hedonic ...
First Paycheck Energy: The Behavioral Finance Secrets That Change Everything
Episode DescriptionYour first paycheck hits and suddenly you feel invincible. But lurking beneath every "I'll deal with it later" and every lifestyle upgrade is a set of mental traps that behavioral economists have studied for dec...
The Money Mind: Why Windfalls Vanish — A Behavioral Finance Deep Dive
Episode SummaryMost financial advice about inheritances focuses on what you should do — park the money in a high-yield savings account, wait six to twelve months, pay off high-interest debt, build an emergency fund. That ...
Money Flows Where Identity Goes: How to Finally Become Someone Who's Great With Money
Episode SummaryWhat if the biggest thing standing between you and financial freedom isn't your income, your debt, or even the economy — but the story you've been telling yourself about who you are with money? In this epis...
Spend Less, Save More, Feel Amazing: The Psychology-Backed Money Reset
Episode SummaryWe all know what we should do with money. So why don't we do it? In this episode, we dive deep into the fascinating world of behavioral finance — the science of why smart people make dumb money decisions. Y...
Everything Is Relative — Why Your Brain Is Secretly Terrible at Handling Money (And What to Do About It)
Episode Summary: Your brain doesn't think in dollars. It thinks in comparisons — and that one quirk might be quietly sabotaging your finances in ways you've never noticed. In this episode, we dig into the fascinating, sometimes ...
The Hidden Price Tag: Why Every 'Yes' Is a Secret 'No'
Episode Summary: You think the latte is $6. Wrong. You think the new car is $35,000. Wrong again. In this episode, we blow the lid off one of the most underrated concepts in personal finance — opportunity cost — and explain why your brai...
Your Parents Called — They Want Their Money Trauma Back: How Your Childhood Is Still Running Your Wallet
Episode Summary: Ever wonder why you hide shopping bags before your partner gets home, panic at a zero balance even when you're financially fine, or feel guilty every time you spend money on yourself? Surprise — you probably learned that...
How to Make Friends With a Version of Yourself You've Never Met
Tagline: Your future self is out there right now, living with every financial decision you're making today. The problem? Your brain treats them like a complete stranger.Episode Summary: Why do smart, caring people consisten...
What Lottery Winners Can Teach Us About Sudden Wealth Syndrome
They won millions. They lost it all. Here's what their brains were doing the whole time — and why it matters for your money too.Episode Summary: Most people think lottery winners who go broke are just reckless or dumb. They're not...
The Price Is Wrong: Why Inflation Feels Way Worse Than It Is (And Sometimes Way Better)
Episode Description: Inflation is a number. But it doesn't feel like a number — it feels like a personal attack. Why does a 4% inflation rate feel like the economy is collapsing while a 6% raise feels like barely enough? Why do ...
Are You Treating Future You As a Stranger? How Projection Bias Is Working In Your Finances
Episode Description: You bought a ski pass in January and never used it. You signed up for a meal kit service when you were very hungry. You took out a 30-year mortgage on a house you'd "definitely" live in forever. What's the c...
The Mental Piggy Banks in Your Head — How Mental Accounting is Secretly Running Your Finances
Episode Summary: Ever wonder why you'll spend a $100 gift card on something frivolous but agonize over spending $100 of your "real" money on the same thing? Or why a tax refund feels like a windfall even though it was your money all alon...