Will Your Streaming Bill Jump? Plus, How to Pick a Budgeting App You’ll Actually Use

NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast

NerdWallet Personal Finance

Investing, Education, Business, How To

4.3 • 892 Ratings

🗓️ 5 March 2026

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Find out what Paramount’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery could mean for streaming, then learn how to pick a budgeting app you’ll actually use. How do you pick a budgeting app that helps you see where your money goes? Hosts Sean Pyles and Elizabeth Ayoola discuss budgeting apps to help you understand how to track spending without making budgeting your second job. But first, news writer Rick VanderKnyff joins the show to discuss Paramount’s bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery with Anthony Palomba, a media scholar and assistant professor at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. They discuss what major brands and streaming platforms are on the line, how the bidding played out after Netflix walked away, and what the deal could mean for consumers. Then Sean and Elizabeth do a “Budget Rehab” with listener Rashondra, covering budgeting styles and the 50/30/20 framework, how big line items like a car lease and groceries can shift your “needs” category, and what to look for when comparing tools like Empower, YNAB, EveryDollar, Monarch, and NerdWallet’s budgeting app. Subscribe to MoneyNerd, our weekly email newsletter, at https://moneynerd-nerdwallet.beehiiv.com/ 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

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0:00.0	There's an apparent winner in the fight over who gets to buy Warner Brothers. But will consumers win too?
0:08.0	Welcome to Nerd Wallet's Smart Money podcast, where you send us your money questions and we answer them with the help of our genius nerds. I'm Sean Piles.
0:15.3	And I'm Elizabeth Ayala. Later this episode, we'll be discussing how you can find the best budget app for tracking your money.
0:23.6	But first of all, we have our weekly money news roundup where we break down the latest in the world of finance so that you can be smarter with your money.
0:30.7	In December, it looked like Netflix was all set to buy Warner Brothers Discover in a move that was expected to shake up the movie and streaming industry.
0:38.7	But then Paramount Skydance stepped in with a hostile bid, and Netflix finally decided to walk away
0:43.5	last week. Our news colleague Rick Banderkenife, stepping in for Anahal Hoski, is here to talk
0:48.3	about it. Hey, Rick. Hey, thanks, Elizabeth and Sean. It's good to be here. In a minute, we'll dive
0:54.1	into the latest Hollywood drama and what it might mean for your streaming habits and your entertainment budget. But first, I think we want to acknowledge what's dominating the headlines this week. And that, of course, is the joint U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran that began on Saturday. Yeah, that's been capturing, I think, all of our attentions. Can you give us a quick
1:11.6	summary of what the latest is there?
1:13.1	Sure. In a nutshell, a massive air and missile attack targeted more than 100 sites in Iran,
1:19.7	including an Israeli strike that killed the country's supreme leader, Ali Khomeini.
1:24.9	Iran is retaliating with drone and missile strikes across the region,
1:28.3	and the conflict has been spreading to other nations in the Middle East.
1:32.3	The situation is evolving rapidly, and President Trump has said the operation could last four to five weeks.
1:38.3	And effects of the war that we are feeling here at home include spiking oil prices,
1:42.3	some turmoil in the stock market, and travel
1:45.0	disruptions. We'll be rounding up the latest consumer effects in our Friday edition of Money Nerd,
1:50.1	which is our free weekly email newsletter. We'll put a sign-up link in our show notes.
1:55.0	And with that, we'll turn back to Hollywood. Our guest today is Anthony Palomba.
1:59.7	He's a media scholar and assistant professor at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Welcome to Smart Money, Anthony.
2:07.3	Guys, thank you so much for having me. This is wonderful. First, could you set the scene a little? It seems like there have been a lot of mergers in entertainment in recent years. Can you give listeners a sense of what brand names these two companies,
	...

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