Share Sounds.

Back to vault! In this episode, then-CFO of The Motley Fool (now Managing Director of Motley Fool Ventures), Ollen Douglass, joined us to share his advice for how to negotiate your bills (and more!). Alison was mean to a vegan for no good reason while Dayana Yochim shared etiquette for splitting the dinner tab.

As Britain's streets are filled with drivers whizzing deliveries around, there's a new top scam in town. Parcel and package delivery scams are the most common type of 'smishing' text messages, a report said this week. Fraudsters are sneaking into people's text messages, pretending to be couriers that missed you while you were out, or need to arrange or rearrange a delivery. Click the link and you could end up being scammed. This is being enabled by the wave of online deliveries in the pandemic, as online shopping stepped up a number of gears, and the somewhat chaotic way some drivers are delivering those parcels: who doesn't recognise the 'leave it on the doorstep and run away tactic'? Lee Boyce, Georgie Frost and Simon Lambert look at what uou can do to avoid falling victim, what are the risks if you do, and can we do anything about the rise in fraud? Also, its squeaky bum time for the triple lock. Wages are officially up 8.8% and the reference month for pension increases is rapidly approaching, so what will Chancellor Rishi Sunak do? Will a bumper increase for the state pension arrive, or the breaking of a manifesto pledge? Plus, the 'blink and you'll miss it' mortgages, as top rates hang around for a very limited time - and the chip shortage that means people are struggling to buy new cars and sending the price of used ones soaring. And finally, is the current account battle back on? As Nationwide bungs people £100 to sign up, the team take a look.

James Cameron-Wilson tries to make sense of a box office that has risen even though all the existing big movies have seen their takes collapse. Riding high at #1 is Disney's Free Guy with Ryan Reynolds, a film packing cinemagoers in despite little advance buzz. James found it smart and original but was less impressed by the spy thriller The Courier with Benedict Cumberbatch which debuted at #8. On DVD, as well as seeing his earlier recommendation Antebellum again, he also proposes watching 1959's Tiger Bay, the first film to star Hayley Mills.

Political commentator Mike Indian asks, in the wake of the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan, whether the USA's role as world policeman is over? He points out how very dangerous American isolationism is likely to be. Although recognising that Parliament's holding the American President in contempt will have little real effect, he believes that the Commons debate on the issue showed the House of Commons at its best, with some very powerful speeches and some very abashed ministers. He also looks at the state of the Labour Party ahead of its forthcoming party conference.

Russ Mould, Investment Director of A J Bell, looks at the bid for Morrison's, explaining why it is attractive and pointing out how cheap the lacklustre UK market now looks for overseas investors. Although the FTSE 100 Share Index has been mostly immune, that's not the case with the 250. Is the UK now open for foreign takeovers and why are a growing number of companies shying away from listing on the stock market altogether?

In this week's tech show, Steve Caplin discusses the Swiss researchers who've calculated Pi to 82.8 trilllion digits; but how will the Guinness Book of Records check it? He also brings news of the first ever wooden satellite, the battery-laden caravan that won't slow your Tesla, Tesla's problems with flashing emergency lights, dissolvable smart watches, getting bacteria to find precious metals in the Brussels sewers, how to train self-driving cars for British, rather than Californian, weather, three-quarter size Ferrari Testarossas for children and more tongue-in-cheek Amazon reviews.

Simon and Georgie investigate some key personal finance issues ..

Difficult learning experiences during childhood can evaporate confidence for adult learning, resulting in a feeling of helplessness - a contrast with those whose confidence outshines their knowledge. Adam Cox helps out with a session which tackles those deep-seated reservations, and helps you to deliver results.

Disney’s blowout 3rd quarter is fuelled by growth in Disney+ subscribers. Airbnb predicts record revenue on the horizon. Unity Software’s 2nd-quarter report calms shareholder concerns. Boston Beer and Pepsi team up to create an alcoholic version of Mountain Dew. Jason Moser and Ron Gross analyse those stories, discuss the latest from eBay, Chegg, DoorDash, and The Trade Desk, and share two stocks on their radar: Outset Medical and bluebird bio. Plus, Motley Fool analyst Maria Gallagher talks with Julia Galef about her book, The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don’t.

In this episode from the vault, Morgan Housel joined us to talk about how to keep your emotions from sinking your wealth. We also discussed recent (lol, 2015!) allegations about Amazon’s toxic workplace culture.