Iona Bain

Iona Bain is an award-winning financial journalist, broadcaster, author and keynote speaker, widely recognised as one of the UK’s most trusted voices on money. As the resident money expert on BBC Morning Live, she reaches millions each week with clear, jargon-free guidance on personal finance and financial wellbeing. Her work has reshaped how people engage with money, especially younger and underrepresented audiences, and her biggest achievement to date is being named Financial Journalist of the Year 2025, recognising her sustained impact on financial literacy, inclusion and public understanding.

Iona’s early career began with a clear sense that traditional financial advice was failing to connect with real lives. In 2011, she launched the Young Money Blog, a pioneering platform designed to explain money in plain English to millennials facing student debt, insecure work and rising living costs. The blog quickly became the UK’s leading destination for relatable personal finance, establishing Iona as a fresh, authoritative voice in a crowded media landscape. Through this formative period, she developed a distinctive approach rooted in empathy, accessibility and practical action. Her openness about dyscalculia further shaped her perspective, reinforcing a belief that confidence with money should never be limited by numeracy or background, and laying the foundations for her later advocacy work.

Her career achievements span broadcast, print and live audiences. Iona is a regular contributor across major UK media, with appearances on Question Time, Newsnight, Panorama and BBC Radio 4, including Moneybox and File on 4. She writes established columns for the i newspaper and Metro, and has contributed to leading global outlets including Vogue, VICE and Refinery29. She is the author of two books, including ‘Own It’, a widely praised guide to building financial confidence, and the host of the successful podcast ‘A Little Bit Richer’. In recognition of her influence, she was appointed Ambassador for National Numeracy, awarded the Freedom of the City of London (2024) for services to financial education, and launched Focus on Finance, a national initiative opening pathways into financial careers for young people.

As a keynote speaker, Iona is engaging, authoritative and deeply relatable. She covers personal finance, financial wellbeing, economic and political trends, consumer fintech, workplace money confidence, and the impact of technology and AI on our finances. Her talks are practical and grounded, offering clear takeaways audiences can apply immediately, from understanding pensions to navigating digital scams. Organisations hire Iona because she connects complex systems to everyday decisions with warmth and clarity, helping people feel informed rather than overwhelmed.