2025’s Money Year in Review and Travel Card Moves To Make Now

NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast

NerdWallet Personal Finance

Business, Investing, Education, How To

4.3 • 893 Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Hear how 2025 money news hit your wallet and whether your travel cards are really pulling their weight. How did 2025’s biggest money stories actually affect your wallet? How can you decide if your pricey travel credit cards are still worth it? Hosts Sean Pyles and Elizabeth Ayoola recap the year in finance news to help you understand what the stories mean for your budget, savings, and plans for 2026. They unpack top news items including tariff-driven uncertainty, a brief but historic stock market crash and subsequent rebound, stubborn home prices, softening rents, and a late-year run of Fed rate cuts. Then they provide tips and tricks on staying focused on long-term investing despite volatility, using rewards cards and store programs to fight higher grocery bills, weighing renting vs. buying when housing costs are sky-high, and making sure your cash is still earning a competitive yield as high-yield savings rates drift down. Then, Smart Travel podcast hosts Meghan Coyle and Sally French give Elizabeth a live “credit card consult” on her stack of high-fee travel cards. They discuss how to tally up annual fees versus statement credits and perks, decide when lounge access really justifies keeping a premium card, identify weak-link airline cards that no longer match your home airport, and choose when to downgrade instead of cancel. They also dig into using grocery cards strategically, avoiding overpaying just to chase credits at specific merchants, managing the mental load of multiple “coupon book” benefits, and building a simple system to track expiring credits so your wallet — and not the card issuers — captures the most value. Card benefits, terms and fees can change. For the most up-to-date information about cards mentioned in this episode, read our reviews: American Express Blue Cash Preferred Review: The Ultimate Family Card American Express Platinum Review: Top-Notch Lounge Access, Big Credits Chase Sapphire Reserve Review: A High-End, High-Maintenance Card Citi AAdvantage Platinum Card Review: Worth the Fee for Airline Loyalists Citi AAdvantage Executive Review: Your Key to the Club AmEx Blue Cash Everyday Review: Solid Cash Back, $0 Annual Fee 5 Things to Know About the T.J. Maxx Credit Card Follow Smart Travel on your favorite podcast app: https://play.megaphone.fm/l-7v0exnsxc-kc8kejdruq Want us to review your budget? Fill out this form — completely anonymously if you want — and we might feature your budget in a future segment! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScK53yAufsc4v5UpghhVfxtk2MoyooHzlSIRBnRxUPl3hKBig/viewform?usp=header To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email podcast@nerdwallet.com. Like what you hear? Please leave us a review and tell a friend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Think about cheese.
0:02.0	Make your thoughts cheesier.
0:04.2	Now add 100% chicken breast fillet, Chipoplae sauce and amadea cheese melt.
0:08.3	And it's giving the new cheesy chicken stack at McDonald's.
0:12.0	Did we mention it's cheesy?
0:13.9	Cheese.
0:15.8	Availments with the 4th of Jan, 2026 from 11 a.m.
0:18.1	Plus and participation may vary.
0:19.2	Subject to availability.
0:20.2	Guess what?
0:21.4	NerdWallet is giving away $100,000 a day for 25 days in December. Yep, it's the debt-free
0:28.1	December sweepstakes and I only have 30 seconds to tell you about it because, well, we're spending
0:33.7	the budget on helping people pay off debt instead of on this ad. Now here's the deal.
0:38.3	Every day from December the 1st through the 25th, one person will get $100,000 from NerdWallet.
0:44.1	You can enter for free at nerdwallet.com slash debt-free December or in the NerdWallet app.
0:50.8	All right, that's my time because when NerdWallet gives away millions, we can only afford
0:55.4	30 seconds to talk about it. One more time if you missed it, that's nerdwollet.com slash debt-free
1:01.3	December or enter in the free NerdWallet app. And good luck. If you had to use one word to describe
1:08.5	your finances in 2025, what would it be?
1:11.2	For me, my one word is progressive, Sean.
1:14.9	Okay, elaborate.
1:16.4	I'm doing some of the things that I did last year, but I think I'm building on my financial habits from last year.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NerdWallet Personal Finance, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NerdWallet Personal Finance and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.