Mav Money Talks Podcast helps students with financial planning

A new podcast from the College of Business, Mav Money Talks, was created in the format of a discussion aimed at helping students with finances. Students with loans and those wanting to improve their financial planning may find some tips in the podcast.

Financial planning program director, Daniel Hiebert, gives credit to the students that brought up important topics for those struggling with financial planning.

“Students thought, we got so many questions on student loans, people are just confused by it. Why wouldn’t we just cover [student loans] first? And then we will get into the other subjects as well,” said Hiebert.

The podcast has already covered topics such as financial planning,student loans and savings. The next episode of the podcast will cover scholarships available for students. Creators of the podcast plan to include additional useful topics in the future.

“We are coming out to our fourth episode. In the last two sessions, we were talking about student loans and how to navigate the student loan process and plan for such things. Our next recording is going to be on scholarships,” said Hiebert. “[Later] we will talk about careers and career passings. How to look at your employee benefits, we could even get into other subjects like networking skills.”

The podcast is open to ideas from students, who can share topics that they want to hear with creators on the website and wait for the next episode that will cover those suggestions.

“There should be a place on the website where they can make suggestions. If it is not available, they can send ideas to me. We certainly want to make it as inclusive as possible. Whatever topics are on the mind of students, we want to be able to have those,” Hiebert mentioned.

Mav Money Talks Podcast is available to listen to on the MSU website. Creators are working on the availability of the podcast on other platforms, such as Spotify or Apple Music. According to Hiebert, these platforms are work in progress. 

“Spotify and Apple music might be the work in progress. But that is our goal to make that available wherever podcasts can be found,” said Hiebert.

Creators discuss topics and come up with ideas that might be useful while planning for student loans and paying for studies.

“What we encourage people to do is have a plan for their finances and if there is anything that they can take away from [the podcast] is having a plan. And plans can be different, so you have to look at your situation,” said Hiebert. “At the end of the day everyone is all about making sure that they can make progress in their finances, so they can set up financial goals, meet the goals and have the life that they want.”

According to Hiebert, the podcast may provide students with ideas on how to plan finances better in a discussion format. Hiebert also shares good advice for students that they can start to use at any moment. 

“Don’t put money on your debit card, put it into a savings account. If something comes up like a financial emergency, maybe a medical situation, where you have to pay money, it is always good to have a savings account so you could just pay from that,” said Hiebert.

Header photo: The Mav Money Talks Podcast created by the College of Business aims to help students who want to improve their financial planning. Topics discussed on the show include student loans, scholarships and careers. (Courtesy of Jen Cucurullo)

Write to Amalia Sharaf at amal.sharafkhodjaeva@mnsu.edu