Central Questions EP 1: Financial Literacy Isn't the Issue. The Advice Industry Could Be.

maj. 12, 2026

In this episode of Central Questions, former Riksbank Governor Stefan Ingves speaks with SHoF’s Paolo Sodini about the hidden logic behind how households build—and lose—wealth. They cover household finance, investing mistakes, diversification, mortgage risk, financial literacy, and wealth inequality.

Why do people so often take the wrong kind of risk? Why can "investing in what you know" backfire? Should you choose a fixed or variable mortgage rate? And why do expensive mutual funds so often disappoint? Sodini brings research and clarity to these everyday questions, while also tackling bigger structural issues—how financial advice can fail ordinary households, why wealth inequality compounds over time, and what wealthier families may quietly understand about money that others don't. One thread runs through it all: there is no easy way to get rich in financial markets.

 

Watch on YouTube
Listen on Spotify
Listen on Apple Podcasts 

 

Guest: Paolo Sodini, Researcher at the Swedish House of Finance and Professor of Finance at the Stockholm School of Economics
Host: Stefan Ingves, former Governor of the Riksbank and Senior Fellow at Swedish House of Finance