On this week’s personal finance edition of Merryn Talks Money, Merryn Somerset Webb and John Stepek break down the insurance cover that really matters as we head into 2026. They’re joined by Kevin Ryan, a consumer insurance expert and analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, who shares what’s shifting in the insurance market and what it means for your money.

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Pippa Malmgren, chief executive of Geopolitica Institute, reports from Greenland on why the Arctic is now at the center of the geopolitical chessboard — from US claims that it needs to take over the Danish territory for national security reasons to how Greenlanders want to remain independent without being “for sale.” She connects the Arctic story to wider shifts: peace talks over Russia's war on Ukraine, strained European alliances, China–Russia dynamics and technological races in space, energy and advanced materials. She also explains what investors should consider as geopolitical risk increasingly becomes market risk.

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Geopolitical tensions have grabbed the headlines this week, but the market turmoil is being driven as much by the Japanese government bond market as by anything coming out of Davos. Hosts Merryn Somerset Webb and John Stepek look at what's going on. They also discuss the growing list of reasons why investors are likely to move money away from the US - and why the UK market has a good chance of benefiting from these flows.

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Are UK house prices really taking off — or is something else at play? On this week’s personal finance edition of Merryn Talks Money, Merryn Somerset Webb and John Stepek dig into the latest eye-catching figures and reveal why the “surge” may not be quite what it seems. From the powerful role of location in driving valuations to why houses are leaving flats behind as investments, the conversation cuts through the headlines to what’s really happening in the property market.

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For more than four decades, Jeremy Grantham has been one of the most contrarian voices in global investing. The co-founder of Boston-based asset manager GMO, he built his reputation warning about bubbles before they burst, from Japanese equities in the late 1980s to US tech stocks in 2000 and housing in the run-up to the global financial crisis. He joins this week’s Merryn Talks Money podcast with host Merryn Somerset Webb to discuss why he believes there's an artificial intelligence bubble and what happens if it bursts, his approach as a value investor and the lessons in his new book, The Making of a Permabear: The Perils of Long-Term Investing in a Short-Term World.

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On this week’s market round-up edition of Merryn Talks Money, Bloomberg senior reporter and author of the award-winning Money Distilled newsletter, John Stepek and Bloomberg Opinion columnist Marcus Ashworth discuss why falling London flat prices but rising costs mean bargains may still be illusory. They also dissect the latest moves in commodities and UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves's cunning plan to quietly reshape the gilt market.

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Most people spend their working lives earning and saving toward a financial goal. This goal can be a number or something more tangible like a paid-off mortgage. But when you’ve spent decades feeding the same frugality habit, entering retirement and reversing that addiction can be an unfamiliar challenge. Retirement also has a tendency of throwing up questions of status, belonging—and of course, mortality.

In this week’s personal finance edition of Merryn Talks Money, hosts Merryn Somerset Webb and John Stepek confront a difficult listener question on the topic of retirement spending. How can a person start spending freely when their attitude toward spending has been the opposite most of their life? Chartered financial planner and Director at Flying Colours Advice, George Agan joins this episode to share his insights on what to do.

Resources from George to check out if you want to learn more:

This is a video with an overview on how to build your own model:
https://youtu.be/7Wkr5QtY-G8?si=5ev22MOHQhl5Qvgq

Course to consider:
https://meaningfulacademy.com/rp-1/

And a link to George's firm:
https://fcadvice.co.uk/

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Societe Generale Head of FIC and Commodity Research Michael Haigh joins Merryn Somerset Webb to break down why the US attack on Venezuela and any subsequent attempt to reboot its energy industry is unlikely to change oil prices near-term. He explains why markets are more influenced right now by OPEC’s supply decisions and China’s rapid strategic petroleum reserve buying—and warns prices could fall if China slows purchases. The conversation then turns to a bullish outlook for copper, driven by electrification, artificial intelligence and data centers, as well as defense spending. Plus, Haigh argues gold and silver still have upside—gold on sustained central-bank demand and silver on persistent deficits—while noting key risks if central-bank buying or global uncertainty meaningfully eases.

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