Finance
3 Personal Finance Films You Need to Watch This Summer
matt_benoit/Getty Images/CNET
If you’ve never swapped your weekend TV show binge for a personal finance documentary, you’re missing out.
Although personal finance is personal, films and documentaries about money can help us feel less alone when making big financial decisions. Most of us didn’t learn about money in school, so we have to take a hands-on approach to personal finance education for information to really stick. Otherwise, it feels like navigating a dark cave with no guidance.
I write about money for a living, and I’m always looking for ways to improve my financial literacy. I often suggest reading personal finance books, listening to podcasts and subscribing to financial newsletters (like the one at CNET called Money Matters). Then I went down a documentary rabbit hole and discovered the benefit of “watching” personal finance.
Documentaries about money you shouldn’t miss
There are several films that focus on personal finance, from the bare-bone basics to unpacking scandals like the Game Stop saga. If you already subscribe to streaming sites like Netflix, you already have several at your fingertips. Here are three documentaries that stood out to me.
Read more: Best Streaming Services for Documentaries
1. Get Smart With Money
Great for the basics
The 2022 Netflix documentary Get Smart With Money follows four financial experts as they help people with different money struggles. It focuses on the basics: Paying down credit card debt, breaking the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle, learning to budget while pursuing early retirement and investing in the stock market.
Peter Adeney (Mr. Money Mustache), Tiffany Aliche (The Budgetnista), Ross MacDonald (Ro$$ Mac) and Paula Pant of Afford Anything partner with folks from different socioeconomic backgrounds to unpack their spending habits and set benchmarks for meeting their financial goals.
The film introduces us to Ariana, who describes herself as an emotional spender. She has $45,000 in credit card debt, and at one point she took out a personal loan to consolidate her credit card payments into one with a lower interest rate. But she quickly found herself in a debt cycle, maxing out her credit cards. Tiffany Aliche, a financial educator and author of Get Good With Money, steps in to help Ariana regain her footing by establishing a sustainable debt pay-off plan.
If you already know a thing or two about basic money management, you won’t find anything groundbreaking in this documentary. Still, there are important takeaways. The main lesson is that you can’t change a bad money habit without changing your mindset and setting attainable goals.
2. The Most Important Class You Never Had
What you don’t learn in school (but should)
From the creators behind Next Gen Personal Finance, which provides educators with free resources to equip students with financial literacy skills, this film focuses on personal finance education and its impact beyond the classroom.
Only one in six high school students in the US is required to take a semester of personal finance to graduate. In this 37-minute documentary, you’ll meet eight high school educators as they incorporate basic money management into their classrooms, covering savings strategies, investing, budgeting and preparing for retirement. Each educator examines why a lack of personal finance education is failing younger generations and what we can do to develop a strong foundation in money management.
Patrick Kubeny, an accounting and personal finance teacher, focuses on real-life scenarios in the film. He covers practical subjects such as saving for retirement and dodging credit card scams. One of his students has already saved over $1,000 in a Roth IRA because of what Kubeny has taught in class. It serves as a reminder that personal finance education can better equip kids with the financial competency they need to be successful after high school.
3. Money, Explained
Navigating money’s minefields
Money, Explained is a docuseries by Vox that addresses several topics: credit cards, student loans, retirement, financial scams and gambling. Condensed into five short episodes of around 20 minutes each and narrated by a celebrity lineup, this series doesn’t explain money but focuses on a range of niche topics, from technology’s role in financial scams to the history of credit cards and the impact of student loan debt.
This docuseries emphasizes the human side of finance. It doesn’t set out to teach you how to budget or pick the right credit card, but rather explores how money affects our sense of security and mental health. It’s a great starting point for anyone looking for an informative yet digestible documentary to boost their financial literacy.
Plus, you get to listen to Tiffany Haddish, Edie Falco and more celebs talk to you about the dangers of get-rich-quick-schemes and the student loan debt crisis, which is something I didn’t know I needed until I saw it.
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Texas restaurant operators are continuing to face mounting financial pressure as rising food and fuel costs impact businesses across the state, according to the latest quarterly economic report from the Texas Restaurant Association.
The association’s 2026 first-quarter report shows that many restaurant owners are struggling to keep up with increased operating expenses while trying to avoid passing those full costs on to customers.
“You know, what we’re seeing a lot of in Texas from these quarterly economic reports that we do is that food costs continue to rise,” said Texas Restaurant Association Chief Marketing Officer Tony Abroscato. “We all know that it’s up 35% since the pandemic. And so that’s an impact on our restaurant.”
According to the report, 77% of restaurant operators reported increased costs of goods, while 66% said suppliers have added fuel surcharges as gas prices continue to climb.
“We’re seeing that 90% of consumers start to adjust their habits based upon rising gas prices,” said Tony Abroscato. “Then also those gas prices impact the cost of food because everything is trucked and shipped and a variety of different things.”
In addition to rising costs, labor shortages remain a major concern for restaurant owners. More than half of association members reported difficulties finding enough workers.
“You know, immigration is difficult and has had an impact on the restaurant industry, the farming industry, which again, then raises prices along the way,” said Abroscato.
Despite the financial challenges, the Texas Restaurant Association’s 2026 first-quarter report shows that Texas restaurants are only passing a portion of those increased costs on to customers while absorbing the rest through reduced profits.
Some restaurant owners have been making changes to adjust, like limiting menu items or even turning to QR code ordering, Abroscato said.
Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.
Finance
Household savings, income and finances in Spain: how did they fare in 2025 and what can we expect for 2026?
In 2025, GDI grew above the rate of average annual inflation (2.7%) and the growth in the number of households (1.3% according to the LFS), which allowed for a recovery in purchasing power. In this context, real household income has grown by 4.5% since before the pandemic, highlighting that households have continued to gain purchasing power in real terms.
The strong financial position of households is reflected not only in the high savings rate but also in their financial accounts. In this regard, households’ financial wealth continued to increase in 2025: their financial assets amounted to 3.4 trillion euros at the end of the year, versus 3.1 trillion at the end of 2024. This increase of 292 billion euros is broken down into a net acquisition of financial assets amounting to 95 billion, higher than the 21.5-billion average in the period 2015-2019, when interest rates were very low, and a revaluation effect of 194 billion. When breaking down the net acquisition of assets, we note that households invested 42 billion euros in equities and investment funds, just under 9.6 billion less than in deposits, while they disposed of debt securities worth 6 billion following the fall in interest rates.
On the other hand, households continued to deleverage in 2025, and by the end of the year their financial liabilities stood at 46.9% of GDP, compared to 47.8% in 2024, the lowest level since the end of 1998. This decline reflects the fact that, in 2025, households took advantage of the interest rate drop to prudently incur debt: net new borrowing amounted to 35 billion euros, representing an increase of 3.8%, which is lower than the nominal GDP growth of 5.8% and the GDI growth of 5.3%.
As a result of the increase in financial assets and the decrease in liabilities as a percentage of GDP, the net financial wealth of households recorded a notable increase of 7.3 points compared to 2024, reaching 156.8% of GDP.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — Mayor Jerry Dyer has unveiled his 2026- 2027 budget proposal at Fresno’s City Hall.
The overall budget total is $2.55 billion, with a majority of the funding going to public works, utilities, police and FAX.
The mayor also highlighted several investments, including a 10-year tree trimming cycle, the Homeless Assistance Response Team and an America 250 celebration.
Dyer says that despite some challenging circumstances, the City of Fresno’s long-term financial condition remains healthy.
“We’re pleased to say that based on increasing revenues and sound financial management, as well as a very healthy reserve, the city of Fresno has a strong financial outlook,” he said.
Dyer’s office says the budget is a comprehensive financial plan that reflects the city’s ongoing commitment to the “One Fresno” vision.
Copyright © 2026 KFSN-TV. All Rights Reserved.
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