Why I Wrote Stay Calm

I grew up in Kansas with Depression-era parents, plainspoken people who never trusted investing in the stock market. In their minds, investing was for insiders. Not for people like them.

When my dad passed away in 1985, my brother and sister and I went to his bank and opened the family safe deposit box. Inside was $15,000 in cash, more than 15% of everything my parents had. Dad grew up watching banks fail. He needed that cash where he could see it. I understood it. It was still hard to look at.

If they’d invested that money when my dad came home from World War II, it would have been worth more than $1 million by the time we opened that box.¹ They worked hard their whole lives for what they had. I still think about what they missed.

There are a lot of people in the same position my parents were in. Not because they’re careless, but because no one ever showed them that this wasn’t as complicated or as exclusive as it looks. You already know more about investing than you think. Investing is about making decisions under uncertainty. That’s most of what life is. You’ve been doing it since before you can remember with every job change and every move.

My book, Stay Calm: Learn to Embrace Uncertainty in Investing and Life, comes out in September. Writing it was my attempt to share what I’ve spent 50 years learning, and to get it in front of as many people as possible. There are people losing sleep over their financial future who’ve never had access to these ideas. That’s what I’m trying to fix.

A few years ago we made a documentary and put it on YouTube for free, figuring it might find a small audience. It now has more than 30 million views. That told me the people are out there. The book is the next step.

If you’d like to help:

• ​Preorder a copy, or buy one for someone specific. You probably already know who.
• Stay connected here. This newsletter is where I’ll keep writing about what I know works and why. I’m glad you’re part of it. (Was this newsletter forwarded to you? If so, sign up here.)
• If you’re a financial advisor: My team has resources to help you use the book with clients. Please email us at staycalm@dimensional.com.

Stay calm, stay invested, and let markets work for you.

David

Footnotes

1. In US dollars. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. S&P data copyright 2026 S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, a division of S&P Global. All rights reserved. Indices are not available for direct investment; therefore, their performance does not reflect the expenses associated with the management of an actual portfolio. From January 1946 through December 1985 the S&P 500 Index returned 11.2% annualized. A $15,000 investment at the start of that period would have grown to $1,057,163. Growth of $15,000 is hypothetical and assumes reinvestment of income and no transaction costs or taxes. For illustrative purposes only and is not indicative of any investment.