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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)

Read the fine print

Nov 16, 2007
Are mortgage brokers looking out for your bottom line or their own? Tess talks to Elizabeth Warren about hidden fees in the mortgage industry.
A mortgage application
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Tess' trash tour

Nov 9, 2007
We take our trash to the curb, but where does it go after that? Tess Vigeland rides along with her neighborhood garbage man to find out.
Tess Vigeland's trash awaits curbside for the arrival of her garbage truck driver -- and a journey to her trash's final destination.
Tess Vigeland

What hungry consumerism leaves behind

Nov 9, 2007
If a port is the mouth of America's consumer economy, the landfill is the other end. Tess Vigeland reports on the people and places wrestling with the question of what to do with all the waste.
John Wilucz dumps his load of trash at the Puente Hills landfill in Southern California.
Tess Vigeland

More tales from the trash challenge

Nov 9, 2007
In September, Tess carried all the trash she generated around for two weeks and challenged you to do the same. We bring you the stories of three listeners who heard the call.
Capt. Andrew Lane of the Army National Guard -- aka "Captain Planet" -- with just some of the recyclables he's saved from the dump at Fort Stewart in Georgia.
Capt. Andrew Lane

Why buy new when used will do?

Nov 9, 2007
Meet the Mullens, a family of four who've sworn off buying new consumer goods for a year. Tess follows the family through their experiment in scrounging.
Five-year-old Daphne Mullen with a couple of the homemade dolls she's giving out as gifts to her friends.
Terry Mullen

Meet the freegans

Nov 9, 2007
More than 10 percent of trash is food, but would you be willing to take a bite? Tess Vigeland trolls for the edible gems in the garbage of Manhattan with the freegans.
Freegans reap the harvest on 5th Avenue -- fresh produce, dairy products, eggs and more, all edible.
Tess Vigeland

Letters

Nov 2, 2007
Don't miss the missives from our listeners. This week: a defense of payday lenders and options for healthy eating on the cheap.
Mailbox
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A year without shopping: part 2

Nov 2, 2007
No trips to the toy store make for awkward birthday parties -- unless you get creative. Host Tess Vigeland continues her conversation with the Mullen family, who promised not to buy any new consumer goods for an entire year.
Credit Card Terminal
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The battle to decrypt "legalese"

Nov 2, 2007
Ever wonder why government forms or financial documents are so hard to understand? Maybe because they're written in a foreign language: "legalese." Marketplace Money host Tess Vigeland talks to Annetta Cheek from the Center for Plain Language.
Decrypting complicated forms and documents
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Open season for health-care options

Nov 2, 2007
This is the season where most large companies give their workers a chance to switch health care options, but which should you choose? Tess talks to corporate consultant Tom Billet about what to look for.
Stethoscope lying on money
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