Money Unplugged with Chris Hill

Getting burned on a bad investment early in life can do one of two things: swear you off investing forever, or teach you exactly what kind of investor you want to become. For Laura Adams, it did the latter.
Host of the Money Girl podcast — one of the longest-running personal finance podcasts in the world, with more than 1,000 episodes — Adams  grew up in Charleston, SC, in a household where money was never discussed. That silence may be exactly why she became obsessed with it. Her earliest money memory involves sorting coins into paper wrappers for her father's business. Her first checking account came at age 12, when she begged her mother for one just so she could balance it.
Chris Hill talks with Laura about:
- How falling for a Ponzi scheme in her twenties turned her into a committed index investor who doesn't look back
- Buying a struggling flooring business with her husband knowing nothing about flooring — and selling it four years later at a profit
- The 2-year plan she and her husband made to eliminate their credit card debt as newlyweds, and why paying it off felt better than she expected
- Why the money rules that help you build wealth can actually work against you when it's time to spend it
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Opening clip - "Succession"

The best job is one you love. The second best? One you hate.
Organizational psychologist Alison Fragale learned this the hard way — trading a McKinsey consulting career she couldn't stand for a Stanford PhD and a calling she never would have found otherwise.
A professor at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School and author of the bestseller Likeable Badass, Fragale grew up in Pittsburgh shaped by a father who made sure his daughter never had to think twice about what she put in the grocery cart. That early imprint on money followed her through Dartmouth, into consulting, and eventually into a career spent studying how people earn power, status, and influence.
She talks with Chris Hill about:
- Why the people most stuck in their careers are neither miserable nor happy — and what to do about it
- A financial concept she didn't encounter until her late thirties that completely changed how she thinks about giving
- Why she bought the car she'd wanted for decades, immediately regretted it, and refuses to get rid of it anyway
- The one habit she believes is both the most generous thing you can do for others AND the most strategic thing you can do for yourself
Check out Alison's book Likeable Badass at alisonfragale.com.
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Opening clip – “Heist”

Dividend stocks don’t get the hype of high-growth tech names — but they’ve quietly delivered some of the market’s best long-term returns.
Investor Matt Argersinger joins Chris Hill to break down why dividend-paying companies can outperform, why younger investors shouldn’t ignore them, and how the stigma around dividends began to fade. They discuss:
- The myth that dividend stocks are “for retirees”
- Losing his first $500 investing in a failed computer company
- The shift in investor thinking after companies like Apple embraced dividends
- When growth stocks make sense — and when they don’t

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Opening clip - "Chinatown"

What’s it like to launch a financial career at the worst possible moment?
Douglas Boneparth, CFP and president of Bone Fide Wealth, moved to New York City in 2008 as Bear Stearns collapsed and the Great Financial Crisis began. But his money story started much earlier — in a household where personal finance was never taboo. He talks with Chris Hill about:
- Early lessons in entrepreneurship
- The challenge of leaving a family firm to build his own path
- Managing student debt and New York City rent
- An investing lesson he wishes he had learned earlier

Check out Money Together, the best-selling book Douglas wrote with his wife Heather. 

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Opening clip - "Succession"

Tim Hanson didn’t set out to become a capital allocator.
Today he’s the President and CIO at Permanent Equity, helping steward long-term investments in private companies built to last. But his path to investing included playwriting, early stock picks, and lessons about money that started in childhood. Chris Hill talks with Tim about what separates investing from allocating capital — and why the distinction matters, as well as:
- The first stock Tim ever bought (and what he learned from it)
- How Permanent Equity thinks about holding businesses for decades
- Raising kids who understand ownership
- A surprising purchase that says more about capital discipline than you’d think

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What’s the last thing you splurged on?
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Opening clip - "Glengarry Glen Ross"