David BoothAuthor of Stay Calm 6 Essential Lessons for Tomorrow’s Business Leaders (That They Don’t Teach in MBA Programs) In the late 1970s, I was working at the pension consulting firm A.G. Becker and was frustrated with my role. The firm seemed mired in inefficiency. One night, I called my mentor, John “Mac” McQuown, to vent. Instead of offering sympathy, Mac asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks: “Are you disappointed in them, or are you disappointed in yourself?” Mac was...
5 days ago • 6 min read
David BoothAuthor of Stay Calm Why Aren’t the Markets Going Even More Crazy? I was recently talking with a friend about the conflict in the Middle East, and she asked, “Why aren’t the markets going even more crazy?” Specific circumstances aside, this is a question I’ve heard many times over my 50+ years in finance. I’ve given a version of the same answer over and over again, and I’ve come to believe it more each time the market has processed and moved through a new event. I told my friend...
19 days ago • 5 min read
David BoothAuthor of Stay Calm What Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gene Fama Have in Common One of the better things about getting older is that you get to look back on the people who’ve shaped your life. For me, two people keep coming to mind, and I’ll admit seeing their names next to one another makes me chuckle: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gene Fama. Between the three of us, we have a dozen bodybuilding championships and a Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. They couldn’t look more different. One...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
David BoothAuthor of Stay Calm You Know More About Investing Than You Think You Do April is Financial Literacy Month, which seems like a good time to remind people that you don’t need to be an expert to invest well. No matter how familiar we are with investing, we’ve all navigated uncertainty, weighed risks and rewards, and made carefully considered tradeoff decisions. Just by being human, we’ve been compelled to tackle the central challenges of life—which also happen to be the central...
about 2 months ago • 9 min read
David BoothAuthor of Stay Calm Three Lessons from Investing’s “Moneyball” Moment This year marks 100 years of research-quality US stock market returns. How important is this centennial? The movie Moneyball provides a good example. The protagonist of the film, Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane, tries to field a championship contender with a tiny budget after many of his biggest stars sign with other teams. He finds his edge with data. It was an Oscar-nominated film starring Brad Pitt,...
2 months ago • 7 min read
David BoothAuthor of Stay Calm How to Do Well in March Madness—and Investing Every year at this time, the NCAA basketball tournament thrills fans and creates so much interest that an estimated one in four Americans fills out a bracket to try to predict who will win it all. I really enjoy watching the games and always fill out a bracket in a pool with my family. Whenever I’m thinking about my picks, I can’t help but see connections between investing and March Madness. Let’s start with the...
3 months ago • 6 min read