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How Money Really Works

How Money Really Works

By: Nathan Pali
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About this listen

How Money Really Works is a personal finance and financial systems podcast explaining what’s actually happening behind your paycheck, bank account, debt, investments, and the global economy.

Most people are taught how to budget—but not how money works. This podcast explores personal finance through history, the psychology of money, and the hidden mechanics of the modern financial system so you can finally understand the forces shaping your financial life.

Each episode blends financial history, behavioral finance, neuroscience of money, and clear, practical explanations of how money really moves through banks, markets, credit, inflation, and debt. You’ll learn:

  • How money evolved from barter to banking to digital currency
  • How banks create money and why debt runs the system
  • How inflation, interest rates, and credit actually affect you
  • Why financial crises, bubbles, and crashes keep repeating
  • How fear, greed, and social pressure drive markets
  • How the brain processes risk, reward, and financial loss
  • How incentives quietly shape the entire financial system

This isn’t a stock-tip podcast or a motivational finance show. It’s a story-driven guide to how the financial system works, money behavior, financial decision-making, and understanding the machinery behind modern life.

If you’re interested in personal finance, financial education, how money works, behavioral economics, psychology of money, banking, investing, inflation, financial history, and finally making sense of a confusing system—this podcast is for you.

How Money Really Works Because understanding money is the first step to controlling it.

© 2026How Money Really Works All rights reserved. Economics Personal Finance
Episodes
  • The South Sea Bubble and Financial Follies

    The South Sea Bubble and Financial Follies
    Feb 15 2026

    In this episode, we explore the speculative frenzy of the South Sea Bubble in 1720s Britain, a period where financial innovation met widespread public speculation. We uncover how attempts to manage national debt led to an unsustainable stock market boom and its eventual dramatic collapse, leaving a lasting impact on financial regulations and public trust.

    Chapters

    00:00 Introduction to the South Sea Bubble

    00:44 The South Sea Company's Proposition

    02:09 The Rise of South Sea Shares

    05:06 The Speculative Frenzy Spreads

    10:30 The South Sea Bubble Bursts

    15:34 Lessons from the Bubble
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    14 mins
  • Unpacking the Tulip Mania Bubble

    Unpacking the Tulip Mania Bubble
    Feb 14 2026

    In this episode, we explore the historical phenomenon of Tulip Mania in the 17th-century Dutch Republic, examining how a market for exotic flowers transformed into a speculative bubble driven by contract trading. We discuss the societal conditions that enabled such speculation and the key factors that led to its eventual, yet contained, collapse.

    Chapters

    00:00 Tulip Mania's Beginnings

    00:00 The Dutch Republic Market

    02:04 Tulips as Status Goods

    03:20 The Rise of Tulip Contracts

    05:00 Low Entry, High Hype

    08:25 The Logic of Bubbles

    10:12 The Bubble Bursts

    13:02 Lessons from Tulip Mania
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    12 mins
  • Spanish Silver and Europe's Price Revolution

    Spanish Silver and Europe's Price Revolution
    Feb 13 2026

    In this episode, we explore how overwhelming quantities of silver from the Americas reshaped 16th-century European economies and triggered the 'Price Revolution.' We also discuss how this surge in global money resulted in widespread inflation, economic paradoxes for Spain, and a silent redistribution of wealth across society.

    Chapters

    00:00 Introduction to New World Silver

    01:55 The Price Revolution Begins

    04:46 Silver's Journey and Spain's Paradox

    08:46 Impact on Contracts & Society

    11:52 Spain's Struggles and Global Reach

    15:23 Lessons from Abundant Money
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    12 mins
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