10 Top Investing Podcasts

Whether your work commute involves driving, riding the bus, biking, or running (like me), it's a great chance to improve your investing know-how through podcasts. You're a captive audience, after all. Below are podcasts that cover investing from 10 unique perspectives:

Money Girl: Part of the Quick & Dirty Tips series (which also includes Mighty Mommy and Make-it-Green Girl), this podcast consists of short, informative segments filled with tips and explainers.

• Frequency: Weekly
• Recent topics: Common investing mistakes, investment scams, and shorting stock. Money Girl also covers general personal finance topics, such as how to adjust your withholding and tips for improving your credit score.

Wallstrip: Owned by CBS, this video podcast—which you can also watch online—features campy stock commentary and market analysis from host Julie Alexandria.

• Frequency: Several shows each week
• Recent topics: An interview with the founder of online communities Dogster.com and Catster.com; a segment examining the stock of jean company True Religion. (It starts out with Alexandria exclaiming, "I found religion—in my pants.")

Mad Money Machine: Hosted by Paul Douglas Boyer, a software consultant and Jim Cramer fan, this show covers hot topics in the market and reviews Cramer's Mad Money recommendations.

• Frequency: Weekly
• Recent topics: The latest moves of Warren Buffett, the new Bogleheads forum, inflation, and the Lost time loop theory. Regular segments include Guru Roulette, Tools in the Crib, and Portfolio Smackdown.

The Disciplined Investor: For stock investors who want to stay informed, this show features recent market news, interviews with financial bloggers, journalists, and analysts, as well as panel discussions with experts on stock-picking strategies. It is hosted by investment adviser Andrew Horowitz.

• Frequency: Weekly
• Recent topics: Microsoft and Yahoo, airline, media, and technology stocks

Feed the Pig. This podcast, the product of a national-service campaign by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Ad Council, is focused on educating 25-to-34-year-olds about investing and money management.

• Frequency: Monthly
• Recent topics: Short-term investing, online savings accounts, mutual-fund basics, emergency funds, financial issues of living with a roommate

Ethical Investing: The topic here is socially responsible investing, including green energy, corporate and political spending, and carbon offsets. It is hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

• Frequency: Monthly
• Recent topics: Earth-friendly companies, microfinance, green 401(k)'s

Bill Gross's Investing Outlook: When bond guru Bill Gross has something to say, investors generally listen up. In his podcast, Gross gives his take on the economy and financial markets, quotes Abraham Lincoln, name-drops Lindsay Lohan, and philosophizes about markets in crisis mode.

• Frequency: Monthly
• Recent topics: The credit crisis, home prices, investment outlook

Vanguard Plain Talk on Investing: This podcast doles out short, snappy investing tips on everything from balancing emotions and investing decisions to deciding how many mutual funds to put in a portfolio.

• Frequency: Biweekly
• Recent topics: Index funds versus active funds, Roth versus traditional 401(k)'s, juggling multiple savings goals

Fidelity Investment Insight: Fidelity also keeps it short and snappy with primers on sectors, understanding market volatility, and occasional pitches for Fidelity funds.

• Frequency: Biweekly
• Recent topics: Understanding the healthcare sector, the implications of rising inflation, the 2008 presidential election and the market

Marketplace Money: American Public Media's Marketplace Money program, which plays on public radio stations throughout the country, features hourlong segments on personal finance and investing topics.

• Frequency: Weekly
• Recent topics: Finding a financial planner, index fund wars, how bubbles can be good