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Podcast: Why subscription services are taking over the world

How the increasingly popular subscription business model affects our behaviour.


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Open your banking app and scroll through your transactions from the past few months. How many subscription services are you paying for? If you're like the average Australian, it's probably quite a lot.

From entertainment and streaming services like Netflix and Spotify, meal delivery services like Marley Spoon or HelloFresh to our energy bills and mobile plans, there are more than a few regular charges hitting every one of our transaction accounts each month.

On this episode of Pocket Money, we welcome Dr Paul Harrison to shed light on the ever-growing number of subscription services and how our brain and behaviour can be influenced. We discuss why businesses are shifting their models, how you should decide what's valuable to you and what you can do to unsubscribe from your own subscription overload.

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The Finder Pocket Money podcast is intended to provide you with tips, tools and strategies that will help you make better decisions. Although we're licensed and authorised, we (and our guests) aren't providing any form of financial or legal advice. So please consider your own situation and get proper advice about your individual circumstances before making any decisions based on anything in our show. Thanks for listening!

Have questions for the Pocket Money crew? Want to suggest a future episode idea? Hoping to speak with other curious young adults sorting through their lives and their money? Join our community for exclusive access and discussions about the show and all things money:

Pocket Money is hosted by Sally McMullen and Marc Terrano. The show is produced by Franko Ali and Ankita Shetty. Editing and theme music from Brianna Ansaldo of Bamby Media.

finder.com.au (ACL 385509. CAR 432664) is Australia's most popular comparison site. We like to help, and we understand that our podcast provides information, insight and entertainment, but it's not personal advice. Consider your own circumstances (or get advice) before you make any decision based on our general comments and commentary.

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Sally McMullen was a creative content producer at Finder. Sally wrote about credit cards for almost 5 years, authoring almost 900 articles on Finder alone. She has also been published in Yahoo Finance, Dynamic Business, Financy and Mamamia, as well as Music Feeds and Rolling Stone. Sally has a Bachelor of Communication and Media Studies majoring in Journalism (Hons) from the University of Wollongong. See full bio

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