Getting paid what you’re worth doesn’t happen by accident. It takes the right ask, at the right time, backed by the right evidence, and most people never learn how to do it. That’s why we keep coming back to salary and career on the Money Gains Podcast: it’s the single biggest lever most of us have for building wealth, and it’s the one nobody teaches you at school.
These five episodes cut through the vague “just ask for more” advice you’ll find everywhere else. You’ll hear from a recruiter who’s spent 17 years inside the hiring process, a careers coach who’s run thousands of salary negotiations, a side hustler who cracked the graduate job market, and a financial planner doing the maths on what your salary actually needs to be. Whether you’re prepping for your first pay rise conversation, weighing up a job move, or trying to work out if you’re being paid what the market says you’re worth, there’s an episode here for you.
Here are five you need to add to your playlist.
Elizabeth Willetts: How Flexible Work Closes the Pay Gap
Elizabeth Willetts founded Investing In Women after being made redundant during the pandemic, and now runs a job board connecting flexible, part-time and remote roles with family-friendly employers. In this episode she makes the case that a lack of flexible working sits at the heart of the gender pay gap, not just childcare costs. She talks through why job adverts that spell out exactly what flexibility is on offer outperform vague ones, why job sharing is criminally underused, and how presenteeism culture quietly punishes anyone who can’t be seen at a desk from nine to five. Practical listening if you’re negotiating flexibility as part of your next role.
Shoshanna Davis: Will AI Take Your Job? (Spoiler: No)
Shoshanna Davis runs Fairy Jobmother, a careers platform that’s helped over 20,000 young people, and this episode is a masterclass in modern job hunting. Only 54% of under-30s feel confident applying for jobs, and Shoshanna breaks down exactly why: unclear hiring processes, thin careers education, and CVs that ramble instead of sell. Her rule is brutal but useful, keep it to two pages, use bullet points, and lead with results not responsibilities. She also tackles job-hopping head on: switching employer usually beats an in-house pay rise, but you’re trading it against mentorship and networking you’d get by staying put. On AI, her advice is simple: use it or get left behind.
Dan Mian on How to Get Paid More: Pay Rises, Job Hopping and Salary Negotiation
Dan Mian built Gradvance as a side hustle alongside his day job in digital marketing at BT, coaching graduates into jobs in a market where applications have tripled since the pandemic. This episode is dense with tactics: his TECH framework (Target, Engage, Connect, Highlight) for getting noticed by hiring managers, why moving roles every 1 to 2 years tends to accelerate your pay faster than staying loyal, and the golden rule of never revealing your current salary first in a negotiation. Only 37% of UK workers ever negotiate their pay, and Dan explains exactly what the other 63% are leaving on the table.
Adelle Thompson: Why Your Colleagues Are Earning More Than You
Adelle Thompson spent nearly 17 years in corporate HR and recruitment before becoming a career and confidence coach, and she’s run the salary conversation from both sides of the table. Her headline stat: 60% of working people have never asked for a pay rise. This episode gives you the playbook to fix that, from her “first 90 days” strategy for making an early impression, to building a file of “receipts” that prove your impact, to setting a walkaway number before you go into the room. She’s also clear that negotiation isn’t just about salary: annual leave, pension contributions, remote working and job titles are all on the table too.
George Agan: Why £40k Earners Won't Have Enough to Retire
George Agan is a Chartered Financial Planner at Flying Colours Advice, and this episode is the wake-up call anyone on an average UK salary needs to hear. Stick to auto-enrolment minimums (5% from you, 3% from your employer) on a £40,000 salary and George’s numbers show your pension pot runs dry in your early 70s. He reframes saving as “buying time”: roughly £5,000 saved over 30 years at 6% growth buys you about a year of extra retirement. It’s not really a lecture about scrimping, it’s about understanding why even a modest bump in pension contributions during your peak earning years matters far more than people think.
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Disclaimer: Content on this page is for informational purposes and does not constitute financial advice. Always do your own research before making a financially related decision.
