Liz Weston

Liz Weston Speaker Biography

Liz Weston is the most-read personal finance columnist on the Internet, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. She’s an award-winning, nationally-syndicated personal finance columnist who can make the most complex money topics understandable to the average reader.

The New York Times called her latest book, "The 10 Commandments of Money: Survive and Thrive in the New Economy," a "wonderful basic personal finance book...Throughout, the book’s tone is supportive of people struggling to understand these topics and trying to make ends meet."

One of her earlier books, “Your Credit Score: Your Money and What’s at Stake; How to Improve the 3-Digit Number that Shapes Your Financial Future,” is a national best-seller and was recently published in a third edition (March 2009, FT Press).

She is also author of “Deal with Your Debt: The Right Way to Manage Your Bills and Pay Off What You Owe” and “Easy Money: How to Simplify Your Finances and Get What You Want Out of Life,” which Publishers’ Weekly praised as a “practical, easy-to-understand guide to taking control of personal finances and establishing financial security.”

Liz’s columns run twice a week on MSN Money while her question-and-answer column “Money Talk” appears in newspapers throughout the country, including the Los Angeles Times, the Palm Beach Post, the Portland Oregonian, Stars & Stripes and others.
She also writes a money column, "My Two Cents," for AARP the Magazine, the largest-circulation magazine in the world with 22 million subscribers.

Liz is a regular commentator on American Public Media's "Marketplace Money" and has contributed to NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” and “All Things Considered.” She has appeared on “Dr. Phil," "Today Show” and NBC Nightly News, and was for several years a weekly commentator on CNBC’s “Power Lunch.”

She was recently awarded the 2010 Betty Furness Consumer Media Award by the Consumer Federation of America, designed to honor individuals who have made "exceptional progress in American consumerism."

Weston won a 2007 Clarion Award for her MSN series on financial benchmarks. Her MSN columns several awards from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, including a 2008 "Best in Business" honor.

Weston started her career at the Seattle Times and then moved on to the Anchorage Daily News, where she was part of the writing team that won a Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service in 1989 for coverage of the alcoholism epidemic among native Alaskans. Her article on fetal alcohol syndrome led the coverage on Day 3 of the 10-day series.

Later, while at the Orange County Register, she was part of a three-member writing team that won a prestigious Gerald Loeb Award for coverage of the Comparator Systems penny stock scandal in 1997.

In 1998, she joined the business staff of the Los Angeles Times and began authoring “Money Talk.” Four years later, she left the Times to write for MSN.
She is also an engaging, dynamic speaker who is frequently asked to address professionals including financial planners and CPAs.

Weston is a graduate of the certified financial planner training program at University of California, Irvine. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter.