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