Colin is a humorous speaker on financial success.

As a humorous speaker, Colin helps students and young professionals embrace imperfection, chase momentum, and find opportunity in challenges. Financial success isn’t just about numbers — it’s about emotions, behaviors, and bouncing back. Colin shows audiences how their money stories can reframe financial stress, and how to find a path forward with humor and clarity.

Colin is an engaging sales trainer on building trust.

Sales isn’t about perfection or pressure tactics — it’s about trust. Colin helps sales teams build lasting relationships by embracing authenticity and connection. When you win the person, the trust builds and the business follows. And if not? You’ve gained a lifelong referral partner. All by leaning into what makes you, you.

Colin Ryan & the Human Side of Money

Professional Bio

Colin Ryan is a nationally recognized comedic financial speaker, award-winning storyteller, and author of “The Comedic Guide to Financial Freedom” and Epic Tiny Victories: A Funny and Hopeful Memoir on Mental Health. Blending stand-up comedy, storytelling, and interactive discussion, Colin transforms the dry subject of personal finance into an engaging, unforgettable conversation about how financial confidence leads to life-changing possibilities.

Named one of America’s top 10 finance speakers, Colin has spoken to over 1 million people across North America, from Fortune 500 companies to over 100 universities. His engaging approach has been featured on NPR, The Moth Radio Hour, Reader’s Digest, CBS, NBC, and PBS. His Moth GrandSLAM winning story “Saved by the Belle,” was named one of the “Best Stories in America” by Reader’s Digest.

A Certified Financial Counselor and sought-after executive coach, Colin helps professionals grow their businesses and impact through public speaking and sales coaching. His work has raised over $150,000 for good causes and led to collaborations with National Geographic Television, the Girl Scouts of America, and financial institutions nationwide.

Colin lives in Durham, North Carolina, with his wife, Lindsey, and their dogs, Remy and Enzo.

Colin’s Personal Story

When I was in 5th grade, I competed in my school district’s annual spelling bee. This was a huge deal, and I wore my lucky sweater. It said Princeton across the front.

No one in my family went to Princeton. My mom got it for me at a Goodwill.

I went up there, in my Goodwill Princeton sweater, and I won that spelling bee!

(No one ever asks if I won, but I always find a way to work it in.)

But here’s the part I don’t tell...

Unexpected Abundance

A few hours later, I was clutching my gleaming, entirely plastic trophy when my principal, Mr. Reynolds, came into my class. He explained sheepishly that another contestant, Carissa, had successfully challenged her disqualification, and we would have to do the final round again. I was still in shock when I stepped up, misspelled my word, and watched Carissa win instead.

I asked the principal if I needed to give my trophy back, and he, and the other adults in earshot, all looked away. Good for Carissa, but still, a horrible injustice had clearly just occurred.

I’m honest with you, my 5th-grade heart hurt. They let me keep the trophy, and I remembered thinking “It turns out I can’t spell Isthmus, but I can definitely spell Consolation.” I was precocious!

A week later, I was still disappointed, and I just wanted to feel better. So I asked for Carissa’s address and wrote her a good-luck-at-regionals letter. With perfect spelling. When I dropped that letter in the mailbox, I felt better. I learned a lesson in grace that would serve me well a few decades later.

A Leap of Faith

Several years into my career as a speaker, a discovery call appeared on my calendar from an event organizer named Aly, who wanted to discuss my being the keynote speaker for an amazing gig.

What Aly didn’t know was that my calendar hadn’t just been empty—it had become a barren wasteland for months. No deals, no calls, no income. As my savings, my mental health, and my confidence plummeted, I stopped marketing myself because I had stopped believing in myself.

Instead, I tried launching a coaching practice. I applied for jobs I knew I’d hate. And, for some reason, I got really into building homemade wind chimes.

This is why seeing that call on my calendar was like being lost at sea and suddenly seeing land. I woke up on the morning of our call knowing I was going to win that gig. And then I saw it had been canceled.

All I could think was, “This is like 5th grade all over again.” My grown-up heart hurt. I just needed to feel better, and I remembered what I did when I lost in 5th grade. And suddenly, I had my answer. So I picked up the phone and called the organizer anyway.

The Power of Genuine Connection

When Aly answered, I think we were both very surprised. I said, “I just wanted to thank you for considering me. Your work sounds so meaningful, and I hope you have a really fantastic event.” After I hung up, even though I’d lost the gig, I was proud of this small act of abundance.

Three hours later, Aly called me back and offered me the gig.

When I asked her why, she said, “Because you cared more about our success than yours.”

I’ll never forget the day of the speech when I got to go out on that stage and do what I love: speak to financial professionals on how to build trust and have humanizing conversations about money—not to use tactics, but to connect through empathy, authenticity, and humanity.

Just like I had to do to be standing there.