Tess Vigeland

Former Host, Marketplace Money

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Tess Vigeland was the host of Marketplace Money, a weekly personal finance program that looks at why we do what we do with our money: your life, with dollar signs. Vigeland and her guests took calls from listeners to answer their most vexing money management questions, and the program helped explain what the latest business and financial news means to our wallets and bank accounts.

Vigeland joined Marketplace in September 2001, as a host of Marketplace Morning Report. She rose at o-dark-thirty to deliver the latest in business and economic news for nearly four years before returning briefly to reporting and producing. She began hosting Marketplace Money in 2006 and ended her run as host in November of 2012. . Vigeland was also a back-up host for Marketplace.

Prior to joining the team at Marketplace, Vigeland reported and anchored for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland, where she received a Corporation for Public Broadcasting Silver Award for her coverage of the political scandal involving Senator Bob Packwood (R-Ore.). She co-hosted the weekly public affairs program Seven Days on OPB television, and also produced an hour-long radio documentary about safety issues at the U.S. Army chemical weapons depot in Eastern Oregon. Vigeland next served as a reporter and backup anchor at WBUR radio in Boston. She also spent two years as a sports reporter for NPR’s Only a Game.

For her outstanding achievements in journalism, Vigeland has earned numerous awards from the Associated Press and Society of Professional Journalists. Vigeland has a bachelor's degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She is a contributor to The New York Times and is a volunteer fundraiser for the Pasadena Animal League and Pasadena Humane Society. In her free time, Vigeland studies at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music, continuing 20-plus years of training as a classical pianist.

Latest Stories (863)

Getting Personal: Student debt and buying a home

Oct 14, 2010
Student debt and getting piece of mind for a home purchase -- Marketplace Money host Tess Vigeland and Chris Farrell answer listener questions.
Getting Personal
Marketplace

The housing crisis: Looking at the big picture

Oct 8, 2010
The housing crisis just hit another obstacle with the halt of foreclosures in nearly of the nation. Tess Vigeland talks to Nic Retsinas, director of Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, about details of what's happened in the housing economy and what's to come.
A foreclosure sign hangs in front of a home for sale.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Where would we be if we hadn't had a housing bubble?

Oct 8, 2010
It's no question that the housing bubble has created a huge effect on the housing economy today. But what would have happened to home prices if that bubble never happened? Robert Shiller of the S&P Case-Shiller index offers some insight.
Housing market bar graph
iStockPhoto

What are the odds of winning the lottery?

Oct 1, 2010
Winning the lottery seems like a once-in-a-fairy-tale-lifetime chance, right? So how come some winners hit the jackpot more than once? Tess ponders the stats.
Lottery balls
Getty Images

TIAA-CREF CEO on the future of retirement

Oct 1, 2010
Retirement security has changed immensely since the Great Recession -- it looks now that many Americans have not saved enough. Hosts Tess Vigeland and Kai Ryssdal speak to Roger Ferguson, president and CEO of TIAA-CREF, about the future.
TIAA-CREF CEO Roger Ferguson.
TIAA-CREF

How to ask for a raise, even in a recession

Sep 30, 2010
Thanks to the down economy, it's an employers market. But some workers are still in a position to ask for a raise or more fringe benefits. Alison Green from the blog "Ask a Manager" share tips and suggestions to help you make your case.
A fight over money
iStockPhoto

What we should expect from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Sep 24, 2010
With the new appointment of Elizabeth Warren to the CFPB, changes in consumer protection are expected to be on their way. Tess speaks to two experts on what issues they think should be handled and how.
Professor Elizabeth Warren, chairman of the Congressional Oversight Panel set up to oversee the TARP program
Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images

How apps can help you shop smarter

Sep 23, 2010
Smart phone apps aren't just for fun and games. The L.A. Times' Michelle Maltais -- a self-proclaimed "appiphiliac" -- explains how certain apps can also save you money.
A man displays his iPhone 4 in New York City.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Improving your credit score: The facts

Sep 17, 2010
Tess Vigeland talks to credit score expert Liz Pulliam Weston on how to improve your credit score.
Visa credit cards.
Photo Illustration by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Foster care, from a guardian's perspective

Sep 17, 2010
Following a real-life foster care success story, Tess Vigeland talks to the guardian behind it.
Students pray in the aftermath of two apparent racially-motivated brawls at a Los Angeles high school in 2005.
David McNew, Getty Images