Money Unplugged with Chris Hill

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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Opening clip - "Glengarry Glen Ross"

Personal finance isn’t just math—it’s memory, emotion, and lived experience.

Chris Hill talks with MarketWatch columnist Beth Pinsker about why money decisions feel so hard, especially during life’s biggest transitions. Drawing from her work as a journalist and financial planner, Beth breaks down caregiving, taxes, and end-of-life planning in ways that actually make sense.
They discuss:
- How childhood money experiences shape adult behavior
- What financial planners can—and can’t—help with during crises
- Why “bad choices” are sometimes the only choices
- What she learned about profit, inventory, and responsibility while illegally selling soft drinks on the beaches of Atlantic City

Opening clip – “The Princess Bride”

Beth’s new book, My Mother’s Money: A Guide to Financial Caregiving, can be found at BethPinsker.com.

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