Becoming a Transformed Investor
It’s been a big week. I’m thrilled by the positive response to Stay Calm and grateful for the opportunity to share the book’s lessons. As a special thank- you for being a subscriber, I wanted to share one of my favorite stories from the book:
A few core principles have guided me throughout my life: sound scientific evidence and the discipline to stick with your plan even when headlines are alarming. The first foundation is objective; the second is emotional. Just ask Dave Goetsch.
When we first met 15 years ago, Dave was already a successful television writer and executive producer of The Big Bang Theory. He spent his days crafting jokes about brilliant scientists who could solve the most complex equations in the universe. The irony? While Dave spent his days making physics geniuses relatable to millions of viewers, his own financial equation had him completely stumped.
During the 2008–9 financial crisis, when the US market plunged nearly 50 percent, Dave was convinced it was the end of the world. The anxiety was so paralyzing that it affected his sleep, his creativity, and his relationships. As he described it, “When the market went down, I went down with it—sinking into a depression, knowing there was nothing I could do.”
Dave’s turning point came from an unexpected source: a former Goldman Sachs executive who was writing a book called The Investment Answer while battling terminal brain cancer. The story moved Dave deeply, because here was a man racing against time to share what he’d learned about investing. For the first time, the principles of evidence-based investing clicked for him. Markets aren’t something to fight or outsmart; they’re something to participate in. The idea of having a fiduciary advisor, someone legally obligated to put the investor’s interests first, was revolutionary to Dave. As he put it, “Wait, somebody is on my side? Somebody who’s not going to benefit from every trade they make? That makes tons of sense to me.”
Dave came to see himself as what he calls a “transformed investor.” That’s someone who understands that investing is fundamentally about betting on human progress and problem-solving capacity, viewing market uncertainty not as chaos to fear but as the very source of opportunity that creates potential returns. This transformation goes beyond portfolio management. It’s about developing the flexibility to turn uncertainty from a threat into an advantage, focusing energy on what can be controlled rather than worrying about unpredictable external factors.
Fast-forward to early 2020: Dave had been in the market for eight years, making saving and investing a top priority. Stocks fell more than 30 percent in a little over a month and Dave stayed calm, despite being invested in the markets and knowing that there was a lot less in his retirement accounts than there had been a few months before. “The market still goes up and down,” he told me, “but I don’t go down with it anymore.”
Dave once shared with me that after narrowly missing out on a writing job for another popular sitcom (a meeting was canceled because they hired a friend instead), he ended up on The Big Bang Theory, which ran for twelve successful seasons. Had he gotten that first job, which would go on to make 140 episodes (a huge success by any measure), he would have missed out on working on 278 of Big Bang’s 279 episodes. Uncertainty created an even bigger opportunity.
“If you’re a long-term investor,” Dave told me, “you can redefine failure.” That perspective has brought him peace in his finances and in his life.
Thank you for being a Stay Calm Investing subscriber. If you’re interested in buying a copy of the book, or in sharing one with friends and family, the book is available on Amazon at a discounted rate for a limited time.
Stay calm, stay invested, and let markets work for you.
David