Money Unplugged with Chris Hill

Worth roughly $200 trillion, the bond market is bigger than the stock market, and  even bigger than the entire banking system. Despite that, most investors barely think about it. Robin Wigglesworth, global finance correspondent and editor of FT Alphaville at the Financial Times, explains why it's the most important financial market of them all. He talks with Chris Hill about: - How a car wash...

Ian Cassel invests where almost no one else will: companies too small and too illiquid for Wall Street to touch. The founder of MicroCapClub sits down with Chris Hill to share what that world actually looks like from the inside, and why he believes it offers individual investors an edge, as well as: - The fake identity he invented at 20 to talk his way into a one-on-one meeting with a public compa...

Scott Phillips is the Chief Investment Officer of Motley Fool Australia, host of the podcast Motley Fool Money , and author of the new book The One-Page Investing Plan . He talks with Chris Hill about how his childhood money habits were shaped by his dad's labeled tobacco tins, and a financial decision in his 20s that still stings, as well as: - The pay cut he took to become a professional in...

When Heather Boneparth was eight years old, her grandfather screamed at her for wanting to give money to a homeless man on the side of the road. Years later, on his deathbed, his parting words to her were "all that matters in this world is your blood and your money." In a rerun of this fan-favorite episode, Heather (attorney and director of business & legal affairs at Bone Fide Wealt...

Kristina O'Neill spent more than a decade at The Wall Street Journal as the editor-in-chief of WSJ. Magazine. Then, in 2023, she got fired. The financial implications were immediate: a severance cushion, but no guarantee of what would come next in a media industry with few opportunities at her level. Instead, she and Laura Brown turned the experience into the bestselling book All the Cool Gir...

What happens when you have so much money that you stop thinking about the dollars—and start thinking about the zeros? Adam Katz spent two decades in financial services, then went through a major wealth-creation event of his own. Now he helps people rethink their relationship with money, using ideas including what he calls the " Three-Digit Rule ." Adam talks with Chris Hill about: - A su...

Spencer Ela had a steady job at a bank and a clear path to management. Then he quit — with no job lined up — to try to make it in Hollywood, an industry where (despite growing up in LA) he knew almost no one. Today, he's a senior vice president at Miramax — the studio behind Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting, and No Country for Old Men. Spencer talks with Chris Hill about that leap, what his pa...

Some of the best money lessons don't come from a textbook. They come from watching an institution fall apart—or making an expensive mistake of your own. Dan Messeca, CFP, is the co-founder of Craftwork Capital and co-host of the podcast Check Your Balances . He talks with Chris Hill about watching the Wells Fargo–Wachovia merger from the inside and co-founding Crooked Crab Brewing with two fr...

Couples rarely argue about dollars and cents. More often, they're arguing about security, freedom, priorities, and the future they want to build together. Ross Anderson, CFP, is the co-founder of Craftwork Capital and co-host of the podcast Check Your Balances . He talks with Chris Hill about growing up in a family of entrepreneurs, what it’s like sitting across from couples who are miles apa...

We think about wealth as a finish line — hit your number and the anxiety stops. Blair duQuesnay , a financial advisor at Ritholtz Wealth Management, says it's almost never that simple. Her clients (ultra-high-net-worth families) aren't worried about running out of money. They're worried about screwing it up. Blair talks with Chris Hill about growing up in a Southern family where mon...

Jesse Cramer had two engineering degrees and a stable, well-paying career designing hardware for an aerospace company. Then one day, about six months into his first job out of college, he looked at his 401(k) statement and saw $11,000 sitting there. That single moment sparked an interest in investing and compound interest that eventually pulled him out of engineering altogether and into a career m...

Alison Kosik spent years reporting live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for CNN—and for most of that time, she wasn't investing a dollar of her own money. She could explain the market to millions of viewers, but couldn't bring herself to trust herself with her own finances. Alison talks with Chris Hill about: - How her parents' fights about money affected her financial...

We all outsource some part of our financial life — taxes, investments, retirement contributions, etc. But it turns out you can outsource the small stuff too! Even if that means leaning on the person sitting next to you at a blackjack table.  In this holiday weekend solo episode, Chris Hill covers: - A favor to ask of you — why do you listen to Money Unplugged, and what do you get out of it? (Email...

Paula Pant grew up watching her mother spend six hours going between four different grocery stores, coupons sorted by location, all to save a few dollars on milk and bread. Frugality wasn't a choice in the Pant household — it was the operating system. It took years for her to realize that nobody had ever asked what all that time was actually worth. Host of the popular podcast Afford Anything,...

Joe Saul-Sehy co-hosts Stacking Benjamins, one of the most popular personal finance podcasts in the world. But before that, he was a financial advisor with a secret — and a marriage the secret was about to put to the test. In the conclusion of his two-part conversation with Chris Hill, he shares: - What he was hiding from his wife when they got married — and how long it took him to come clean - A...

Joe Saul-Sehy is the co-host of Stacking Benjamins, one of the most downloaded personal finance podcasts in the world — but long before he was giving financial advice to millions of listeners, he was making every money mistake in the book. In this first of a two-part conversation with Chris Hill, Joe traces the roots of his complicated relationship with money, from a childhood defined by financial...

John Wordock spent decades working for the biggest names in financial journalism — Bloomberg, CBS MarketWatch, The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones. He interviewed Jack Bogle, and Mike Bloomberg personally sent him to Washington DC to build a broadcast bureau. John knew everyone worth knowing in the world of money. And then he put his savings in index funds and stopped thinking about it. Chris Hill...

Hannah Cole grew up watching her father, a successful architect, call family meetings at the dinner table whenever the economy turned. Belt-tightening conversations. No explanation of how bad things actually were. Just anxiety, and a dad in a bad mood. Cole spent her early career as far from the world of money as she could get — a master's degree in painting from Boston University and years a...

Joseph Moore grew up in rural South Carolina, the son of an electrician who worked during the day and went to school at night. Money wasn't discussed in his house (there wasn't enough of it to make conversation). Today, Moore is a historian and author of the national bestseller How to Get Rich in American History: 300 Years of Financial Advice That Worked (& Didn’t) who achieved fina...

For nearly two decades, Marc Goldman was the voice of the Marine Corps Marathon — running marketing, communications, and sponsorships for one of the most prestigious road races in America. Five years ago, he walked away from that stability to launch Event Voice, his own announcing and event strategy business. In this conversation, Marc and Chris Hill explore: - Why the pandemic became the catalyst...

Ben Carlson has a simple philosophy when it comes to money — and life: less is more. He writes it in every book he signs. It sounds obvious, but most people never actually live it. He’s the co-host of Animal Spirits and author of the brand-new book, Risk and Reward: How to Handle Market Volatility and Build Long-Term Wealth . Chris Hill talks with Ben about: - The lesson his late brother Jon taugh...

Dan Caplinger has spent most of his career helping people understand money — first as a tax and estate planning attorney, then as a longtime writer at The Motley Fool. But the financial lessons that shaped him most started long before any of that: skipping school lunch to save a few dollars, counting coin rolls with his mom, and learning the hard way that a $60 Pac-Man game isn't what a nine-...

What if the stocks you believe in the most are the ones you actually own? Brian Stoffel spent years as a teacher before stumbling into investing — and one experiment changed everything. After reading Nassim Taleb's Skin in the Game, he went back and coded 300 of his own articles into two buckets: companies he wrote about positively that he owned, and companies he wrote about positively that h...

In January 2020, Jeff Santoro deposited $50 into a Robinhood account and started buying penny stocks. He had no idea what he was doing. Two months later, the pandemic hit — and he suddenly had a lot of time to figure it out. Santoro spent 12 years teaching music and has spent the past 13 as a school administrator. He is also the co-host of Investing Unscripted , a podcast he built from scratch (wi...

Brian Feroldi grew up in Rhode Island as a born saver — the kind of kid who hoarded his lunch money candy rather than eating it, just to watch his collection grow. His dad was a CFO. His mom raised money for the ALS Association. Nobody sat him down and explained how investing worked. That part he had to figure out on his own. A financial educator, YouTuber , and author of the book Why Does the Sto...